The lace for February is a Reticella border with Punto in Aria points, 55″ x 8-1/2″. The 15 large points alternate with 14 smaller ones, and there are three smaller points up the left side. Many such laces retain the original cloth from which the drawnwork was done along one edge – others like this one are cut away. The header is now a plaited bobbinlace.
It has a typical tripartite border with an upper and lower narrow section, the main design is in the center. It appears to be based on oak leaves and acorns, although it is a little hard to interpret.
This is an example of a heavy work, meant to edge some kind of linen. There is a large temptation to label pieces like altar cloth decorations, when it is more likely to have edged a table linen. This piece has numerous areas of raised work, large dots in the ‘leaves’, and raised bars in some crosspiece elements of the design. These raised elements were applied after the main work was done. Often in these laces there are figures worked into the design which can become quite fantastic. Reticella (aka reticello), basically meaning ‘cut cloth’, appears in many pattern books of the the later 16th century. It spread quickly throughout Europe and is popular even today. A piece like this is probably 17th century work.  Attribution is more difficult, with both Italy and Greece laying claim to the heavy, more figural borders with raised work. The issue of attribution is in serious need of research.