Tag Archives: Sweetbags

17th Century: Mid 1600’s Beaded bag

Posted on by

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford (image)

Beadwork bag with royal beasts and motto
English, mid-17th century (date of creation)

Dimensions: 16.5 x 23cm (height x width)

Inscription/mark: B M, Initials

Presented by Micheál and Elizabeth Feller, in honour of Professor Christopher Brown, CBE, 2014.

Accession no.: WA2014.71.29

Reference URL: https://collections.ashmolean.org/object/787469

Further reading

Brooks, Mary M., Feller, Elizabeth; Holdsworth, Jacqueline, Micheál & Elizabeth Feller The Needlework Collection: 1 (UK, Hascombe; Needleprint, 2011), page illustrated: 118

Related Items:

17th Century: Beaded bag, 1631 17th Century: Textile panel with beadwork, 1661 17th Century: 1628 Beaded Bag 17th Century: bag 1623 17th Century: Beaded drawstring purse 17th Century: 1625-1650 Beaded bag 17th Century: purse 1634 17th Century: An Killam 1627 beaded purse 17th Century: Drawstring Bag, 1610-1650 16th Century: Beaded Bag 17th Century: beadwork bag 1690 17th Century: beaded silk purse 17th Century: purple velvet pouch 17th Century: Beaded Casket 16th: Drawstring Bag

17th Century: Beaded bag, 1631

Posted on by

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford (image)

 

Gift of a Friend sweetbag

English, 1631 (date of creation)

Material and technique: netted beadwork; glass beads, linen, leather, silk ribbon

Dimensions: 12.5 x 18cm (height x width)

Inscription/mark: THE GIFT OF A FRIEND 1631, on front and back in beadwork

Presented by Micheál and Elizabeth Feller, in honour of Professor Christopher Brown, CBE, 2014.

In the collection of the Asmolean Musuem, Oxford, UK

Accession no.: WA2014.71.33
https://collections.ashmolean.org/object/787473

Further reading:
Brooks, Mary M., Feller, Elizabeth; Holdsworth, Jacqueline, Micheál & Elizabeth Feller The Needlework Collection: 1 (UK, Hascombe; Needleprint, 2011), page illustrated: 114

Related Items:

17th Century: Mid 1600’s Beaded bag 17th Century: Textile panel with beadwork, 1661 17th Century: bag 1623 17th Century: Beaded drawstring purse 17th Century: 1628 Beaded Bag 17th Century: 1625-1650 Beaded bag 17th Century: purse 1634 17th Century: Drawstring Bag, 1610-1650 17th Century: An Killam 1627 beaded purse 17th Century: beadwork bag 1690 16th Century: Beaded Bag 17th Century: beaded silk purse 17th Century: purple velvet pouch 17th Century: Beaded Casket 16th: Drawstring Bag

17th Century: An Killam 1627 beaded purse

Posted on by

 

Private collection of Jen Funk Segrest

Related Items:

17th Century: Beaded drawstring purse 17th Century: 1628 Beaded Bag 17th Century: bag 1623 17th Century: purse 1634 17th Century: 1625-1650 Beaded bag 17th Century: beaded silk purse 16th Century: Beaded Bag 17th Century: beadwork bag 1690 17th Century: Purple velvet purse 17th Century: Drawstring Bag, 1610-1650 17th Century: purple velvet pouch 17th Century: Game Bag 17th Century: beaded stumpwork panel 17th Ventury: footed beaded box 17th Century: Beaded bellows

17th Century: Beaded drawstring purse

Posted on by

View page at Leslie Antiques

An exceedingly rare beaded purse with multicolored glass beads on a leather base, and with beaded and wood toggle closures. This early purse might be unique because of its age and that the date is actually worked into the decoration as part of the phrase “Gift of a Friend 1632”. The interior of the purse is of a very soft, fine leather, probably deerskin or lambskin.

Especially considering its age the purse is in excellent and exceptional condition, with all the beadwork present. One of the pendent tassels at the bottom is missing, and there is some expected and minor wear to the material above the beadwork. All parts of the bag are structurally sound. The size is 5″ wide by 4 1/2″ tall, not including the tassels or drawstrings.

 

Related Items:

16th Century: Beaded Bag 17th Century: purse 1634 17th Century: 1628 Beaded Bag 17th Century: bag 1623 17th Century: An Killam 1627 beaded purse 17th Century: 1625-1650 Beaded bag 17th Century: Beaded bag, 1631 17th Century: beaded silk purse 17th Century: Mid 1600’s Beaded bag 16th: Drawstring Bag 17th Century: Drawstring Bag, 1610-1650 17th Century: beadwork bag 1690 17th Century: Purple velvet purse 17th Century: purple velvet pouch 17th Century: dressing mirror, 1670

17th Century: bag 1623

Posted on by

Beaded bag, 1623

Link to Sotheby’s listing

Signed TH GUIFT OF A FRIEND 1623

In good condition, with old restorations and later stitching along two vertical seams running from the bottom to the top border in between the I and E of ‘FRIEND’ and between ‘GIFT’ and ‘OF’. Wear and old restorations to the green ribbon border along the top

Height 4 in.

Provenance

Mayorcas Ltd, London, January 1976;, Vogel Collection no. 233

 

 

Related Items:

17th Century: Beaded drawstring purse 17th Century: Beaded bag, 1631 17th Century: 1628 Beaded Bag 17th Century: purse 1634 17th Century: 1625-1650 Beaded bag 17th Century: An Killam 1627 beaded purse 16th Century: Beaded Bag 17th Century: Mid 1600’s Beaded bag 17th Century: beaded silk purse 17th Century: Drawstring Bag, 1610-1650 17th Century: beadwork bag 1690 17th Century: basket 1660 17th Century: purple velvet pouch 17th Century: basket 1662 17th Century: beadwork box 1680

17th Century: purse 1634

Posted on by

1634, English

V&A Accession number T.55-1927 | link to item at V&A

The most luxurious embroidered purses, made in leather, velvet and silk, were used by both men and women. Women’s purses were similar to those carried by men, but smaller, taking the form of tasselled bags that closed with tasselled drawstrings. These were often embroidered, while beadwork on leather was also popular. The decoration on this purse depicts a sprig of green and yellow acorns between a pair of birds with lozenges and flowers. It is inscribed ‘I PRAY GOD TO B(sic) MY GUIDE 1634’.

A number of early 17th-century beaded bags bear mottos or expressions relating to charity, friendship or luck. These two examples carry the messages, ‘I pray God to B my guide 1634’ [T.55-1927] and ‘Hit or miss there it is 1628’ [T.250-1960]. They would have been used to carry either sweet-smelling herbs or small gifts. V&A, Room 40, Bags: Inside Out. (12/2020)

Bibliography: John Lea Nevinson, Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries, Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Textiles, London: HMSO, 1938, p.100, plate LXXII

Related Items:

17th Century: Beaded drawstring purse 17th Century: 1628 Beaded Bag 17th Century: bag 1623 17th Century: An Killam 1627 beaded purse 16th Century: Beaded Bag 17th Century: beaded silk purse 17th Century: Beaded bag, 1631 17th Century: 1625-1650 Beaded bag 17th Century: Mid 1600’s Beaded bag 17th Century: beadwork bag 1690 17th Century: Purple velvet purse 17th Century: Drawstring Bag, 1610-1650 17th Century: purple velvet pouch 17th Century: Game Bag 17th Century: Gloves 1620s

17th Century: 1625-1650 Beaded bag

Posted on by

Small flat bag of coloured beads netted on a foundation of thick linen thread, and patterned with bird and flowers and inscribed ‘IN HOP ME HART DOTH REST’. With brown, green, white, yellow and blue beads. Lined with chamois leather. Above the beadwork is a band of material of green silk covered with a pale pink silk.

Link to item @ V&A

There is also a pink satin lining and pink ribbon handles. The pink silk and satin are probably later additions.

‘IN HOP ME HART DOTH REST’ (Inscribed in beadwork above the birds and flowers)

  • Width: 13cm
  • Length: 11.5cm
  • Width: 5.125in
  • Length: 4.5in

 

Related Items:

17th Century: 1628 Beaded Bag 17th Century: purse 1634 16th Century: Beaded Bag 17th Century: Beaded drawstring purse 17th Century: bag 1623 17th Century: Beaded bag, 1631 17th Century: Mid 1600’s Beaded bag 17th Century: beaded silk purse 17th Century: An Killam 1627 beaded purse 17th Century: Drawstring Bag, 1610-1650 17th Century: beadwork bag 1690 17th Century: Cockatrice Jewelry box 17th Ventury: footed beaded box 17th Century: Basket, 1650-1700 16th: Drawstring Bag

17th Century: 1628 Beaded Bag

Posted on by

A number of beaded bags from the early 17th century survive. Their stylized floral patterns and less expensive materials imitate the elaborate embroidered versions carried by the aristocracy. Many bear mottos or expressions relating to charity, friendship or luck, which suggests that they may have been used for gifts of money.
Link to page @ V&A

Materials & Making
The development of the ‘drawn-glass’ technique about 1490 allowed the manufacture of large numbers of small, round, coloured beads with a central hole, of the type used in this purse. The glassworks on the island of Murano near Venice were the most famous during the Renaissance, but by the early 17th century the technology had spread to glass-making centres in Amsterdam and Bavaria. Beads were produced mainly for trade with North America and Africa, but they were also sold in Europe for use in embroidery.

Subjects Depicted
The expression ‘hit or miss’ is first recorded in the English language in William Shakespeare’s play Troilus and Cressida published in 1606, where it has the same meaning of random luck that it has today. The expression may have derived from a country dance also known as ‘hit and miss’, recorded as early as 1626.

Purse of brown glass beads on a ground of netted silk. With a diamond diaper pattern in blue and white beads with clusters of green and blue beads at the intersections. In each diamond a letter ‘S’ in dark blue beads is surrounded by white and yellow beads. Lined with leather and buff silk. Two tassels of buff silk ribbon at the bottom.

  • Height: 8.9cm
  • Width: 12.7cm
  • Depth: 1cm

Related Items:

16th Century: Beaded Bag 17th Century: Beaded drawstring purse 17th Century: purse 1634 17th Century: Beaded bag, 1631 17th Century: Mid 1600’s Beaded bag 17th Century: 1625-1650 Beaded bag 17th Century: An Killam 1627 beaded purse 17th Century: bag 1623 17th Century: beaded silk purse 17th Century: beadwork bag 1690 17th Century: purple velvet pouch 17th Century: Purple velvet purse 17th Century: Drawstring Bag, 1610-1650 17th Century: beaded stumpwork panel 16th: Drawstring Bag

16th Century: Beaded Bag

Posted on by

Beaded leather bag, 1630s, British; inscribed ‘heare et is hit or miss’, acorn pattern

 

A number of beaded bags from the early 17th century survive. Their stylized floral patterns and less expensive materials imitate the elaborate embroidered versions carried by the aristocracy. Many bear mottos or expressions relating to charity, friendship or luck, which suggests that they may have been used for gifts of money. This example is inscribed ‘heare et is hit or miss’.

The development of the ‘drawn-glass’ technique about 1490 allowed the manufacture of large numbers of small, round, coloured beads with a central hole, of the type used in this purse. The glassworks on the island of Murano near Venice were the most famous during the Renaissance, but by the early 17th century the technology had spread to glass-making centres in Amsterdam and Bavaria. Beads were produced mainly for trade with North America and Africa, but they were also sold in Europe for use in embroidery.

The expression ‘hit or miss’ is first recorded in the English language in William Shakespeare’s play Troilus and Cressida published in 1606, where it has the same meaning of random luck that it has today. The expression may have derived from a country dance also known as ‘hit and miss’, recorded as early as 1626.

Text from: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74982/purse-unknown/http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O158778/bag-unknown/

Physical description: A flat, square leather bag, covered with red, white, green, yellow and blue glass beads in a repeating pattern of stylized acorns. It has silver thread loops, silk tassels and holes in the leather for a drawstring

Place of Origin: Great Britain (made)

Date: 1630-1639 (made)

Materials and Techniques: Kidskin, glass beads, linen thread, silk thread, silver thread; hand sewn, hand beaded

Dimensions: Length: 13.0 cm approx., bag only, Width: 14.6 cm approx., bag only

Beaded leather bag, 1630s, British; inscribed ‘heare et is hit or miss’, acorn pattern

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no): John Lea Nevinson, Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries, Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Textiles, London: HMSO, 1938, p.100

Materials: Kidskin; Glass beads; Linen thread; Silk thread; Silver thread

Related Items:

17th Century: 1628 Beaded Bag 17th Century: Beaded drawstring purse 17th Century: 1625-1650 Beaded bag 17th Century: purse 1634 17th Century: Beaded bag, 1631 17th Century: bag 1623 17th Century: Mid 1600’s Beaded bag 17th Century: An Killam 1627 beaded purse 17th Century: beaded silk purse 16th: Drawstring Bag 16th Century: Beaded Book 16th Century: Ventian purse 18th Century: Beaded bag 16th Century: Beaded Portrait 17th Century: beadwork bag 1690