This square panel with a Point de Venise needle lace center depicts cherubs holding a banner with the inscription “AUGUSTA-VIRGINIA”. The donor’s mother Augusta Virginia Mitchell owned the lace. Her daughter, the Vicomtesse de Beughem, was one of four women in charge of the Lace Committee during World War I and possibly commissioned it for her mother.
Another possibility for the Augusta-Virginia inscription might be to honor the 116th Infantry Regiment from Augusta, Virginia, who fought in the battle of Meuse-Argonne, France in November 1918.
The center is designed by the Belgian painter Maria de Rudder and symbolizes the children of Holland sprinkling the Belgian children with flowers of abundance. For the matching pillow sham see TE*T14468B. Both were made by Belgian lace makers during World War I.
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