Not currently on display at the V&A

Bag

1675-1700 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

By the end of the 17th century, fashionable bags were round in shape. The simplified pattern of strawberries and lozenges on this example is characteristic of the period. A series of holes at the mouth of the bag indicates that it once had a drawstring.

The lack of a more secure fastening than a drawstring suggests that this purse was intended to hold a keepsake or to wrap a gift of money, rather than everyday monetary use.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Linen, silk, silk thread; hand sewn, hand embroidered
Brief description
Bag, embroidered linen, 1675-1700; British, coloured silks, strawberry in lozenge.
Physical description
A flat pear-shaped bag of linen embroidered in a stylized pattern of strawberries in lozenges with green, yellow, red and pink silk. The edge is bound with green silk grosgrain ribbon and the bag is lined with pale blue silk. The holes at the upper edge indicate there was once a drawstring.
Dimensions
  • Approx. length: 8.1cm
  • Approx. width: 11.6cm
Credit line
Given by J. Falcke, Esq
Subjects depicted
Summary
By the end of the 17th century, fashionable bags were round in shape. The simplified pattern of strawberries and lozenges on this example is characteristic of the period. A series of holes at the mouth of the bag indicates that it once had a drawstring.

The lack of a more secure fastening than a drawstring suggests that this purse was intended to hold a keepsake or to wrap a gift of money, rather than everyday monetary use.
Bibliographic reference
John Lea Nevinson, Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries, Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Textiles, London: HMSO, 1938, p.101
Collection
Accession number
T.133-1924

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Record createdJuly 9, 2008
Record URL
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