Purse

Catalogue note by Santina Levey. A cylindrical purse with a rounded base and drawstring top. It was made on a purse mould with silver and silver-gilt thread and red silk in detached buttonhole stitches. All the threads are carried round the mould and brought to the surface as required; each loop is worked with paired threads and the underlying threads are invisible except in places on the back. The roundel at the base is worked only in silver thread in detached buttonhole stitches over pairs of laid threads, and is lined with tightly and separately worked linen thread buttonholing. The thin drawstrings are of fine red silk plaited with a square cross section. They are trimmed with four elaborate tassels of plaited silver and silver and red silk braids with interlaced ends and plaited red silk and silver thread tufts, all bound into small balls covered with red silk and silver thread. A fifth matching tassel decorates the end of the purse. The main body of the purse is patterned with small red hearts surrounded by red and gold spots. The join between the main body and the base is trimmed with a series of loops oversewn with buttonhole stitches. Condition: good. Some of the silver thread is slightly tarnished.