Embroidered bag, 1800s, English

Canvas bag embroidered with coloured silks, tassels in green and silver

Given by Messrs Harrods Ltd.

This was part of a very large collection of items of dress and accessories which was given to the Museum by Harrods, the department store, in 1913. The collection had been formed by the artist Talbot Hughes, who wrote a book on the history of dress, illustrated with photographs of models wearing items from his collection. A large firm in America had offered to buy the collection and present it to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, but Hughes did not want it to go abroad. At the suggestion of Cecil Harcourt Smith of the V&A, Harrods bought it for £2,500 and gave it to the Museum for the 'public good'. Harrods displayed the collection for three weeks in December 1913.

From the 1830s Berlin woolwork dominated home embroidery. The patterns were worked in merino wools from Germany on to canvas, and silks were introduced for texture and bright colour contrasts. Thousands of printed charts were imported into England, each square representing a stitch, and many designs for bags and purses were available, as well as for other small objects such as slippers, or watch holders. While much of the embroidery was worked simply and methodically, more complex stitches and patterns were often used for bags. Small, geometric patterns were popular at first, but soon floral motifs became highly prevalent.

T.1502-1913