Very Fine Antique Needle Lace Crowing Bird, Framed  haydenville ma Housed inside the gorgeous macrame/knot

Housed inside the gorgeous macrame/knot work at the large end is a lead weight

I'd think a child made these

but this is about my favorite Inuit carving I've ever seen

I have found a few antique Japanese dolls like this that were acrobats

Very Fine Antique Needle Lace Crowing Bird, Framed  haydenville ma Housed inside the gorgeous macrame/knotI can't get enough of figural lace, and this particular type style of needle lace is my favorite sort (I believe Belgian in origin), with what looks like a million tiny tight knots making up the bird alone. The wonderful spiderweb like field surrounding it here suggests a nest to me, as if it might have come with open beak to feed the babies, though as the bird appears to have a comb and wattle (launching this a wonderful arch of triangles, like a