19th Century Embroidered Eyelet Lace Samples: Over-sized, Double-sided Page (13 Samples) animal bowl red sailboat with big white

red sailboat with big white sail

So I was thrilled to purchase this wonderful deck from a seller in England--48 oversized cards

and wonderfully playful

At some point someone added a wire on the back in order to hand this on the wall

One sees some sewer tile pieces that were made using molds

19th Century Embroidered Eyelet Lace Samples: Over-sized, Double-sided Page (13 Samples) animal bowl red sailboat with big whiteI believe this is French and dates to the 1870s 80s; the closest example I could find, down to the manner of the numbering, is a whole sample book of eyelet lace in the collection of the Met, though those samples were more neatly trimmed than these! The dealer I purchased this page from described them as swatches of petticoat lace, and indeed that would be a common use for embroidered cotton eyelet lace like this. This of course is much better in hand