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A beautiful little 390 years plus survivor, made in England circa 1630 to 1640 during the reign of Charles 1. This SMALL little British bag was made on a netted ground with yellow under cloth and entirely covered in glass beads. Often in the past called Swete Bags for holding pleasant smelling herbs, it is now thought that its purpose was most likely as a gift containing charity money or alms by a Carolean period lady. The word ALMS a shortened form of the Greek eleēmosýnē meaning compassion.

For similar examples of this little swete bag please visit some of the world’s finest museums including – The MFA Museum, Boston, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, The Museum of Bags and Purse, Amsterdam and The V & A Museum, London.

Purse or bags were very small at the beginning of the 17th century. This small flat rectangular bag is fairly simple in construction, the luxury being the Italian or Bavarian glass bead coverage. The brown geometric crosses with central yellow cross is very pretty. The turquoise glass beads surround these crosses again worked in a cross design. Pretty symbolic really when you remember the function as an alms purse to give charity. This small bag also has just about retained both of its original beaded side tassels, and remains of both its base corner looped tassels. Its drawstring chord is also original. Like extant examples at museums the woven silk top section is likely a later replacement. It once would have likely had a kid leather lining over the thick woven lining – long since perished.

Size: Purse body a tiny 4 inch tall by 4 1/2 inch wide (10 cm by 11.5 cm)

Condition: This nearly 400 year old example is not offered in perfect condition, as one would expect, it is showing signs of its vast age. PLEASE study our many images, zoom in and/or request more if needed. Our images form part of the description. This is nearly 400 years old, it is difficult to describe every sign of age. The two additional top chords would have had fancy tassels suspended from them, now vacant. The beadwork is as vibrant as it was in the 1640’s, however there is a central 1 inch vertical area of broken ground netting/missing beads to the reverse, shown in our images. As previously mentioned woven silk top section is likely a later replacement. It once would have likely had a kid leather lining over the top of the thick woven lining – long since perished

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