PURSES TlffiOUGH THE AGES By MARY ESTILL YATES KLINGSTEDT (I Bachelor of Arts Oklahoma A icultural and 11echanical College Stillwater, Oklahoma 1945 Submitted to the f aculty of t he Graduate School of t he Oklahona Agricultural and Mechanicol College in partial fulfillment of t he requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SC IENCE 1953 ii OKt,HOMI AGRICillTURAL & Mf CUA NICAL CGLUBI Ll 6R ARY DEC 10 1953 PURSES THROUGH THE AGES MARY ESTILL YATES KLINGSTEDT MASTER OF SCIENCE 1953 THESIS AND .ABSTRACT APPROVED: Faculty Repre sent ative Dean of the Graduate School 309041 iii PREFACE 'i.'he writer ' s interest in purses dates from pre- school years when, while living with her grand.mot er on a Texe.s cotton far , sho was permitted to entertain herself by looking at the contents of 11Mamnw 1s 11 trunk, which included anong other t hings her great- grandmother' s little black purse; t his purse contained an old ~ype wrapped in china s ilk and a len h of fragile silk lace folded around a piece of cardboard. A rainy afternoon passed quickly by t he time this little girl combed t e old ey switch (hair piece), braided it caref'ull y , pi nned i t atop her red curls and got her purse, song book and palm leaf fan and ,ras then ready for c urch. T · s interest continued as the little eirl learned to sew and was encouraged to study and create fanciful patterns in t e field of t he costume arts. Her present interest i n han made t hings and t he i,ealth of contemporary materials o.t han have stimulated the author to ptu-sue a study of t he develop, ent of bo.g Dnd purse designs t ough the agea. The investigation ha.s omitted t he uor rn of t he .American Indians since t here is an ablIDdance of material close at hand on the crafts of t hese people. It is t he ope of the author t hat t his study will give t he reader an appreciation of the long hi story of bags and purses, of t he skills and artistic abilities of t he people who made them, and of t heir any uses. The author also wishes to encourage many other people to ezjx:lrience t he joy and satisfaction of creating a thing of beauty. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author wishes to express her sincere appreciation to Dr. Wathena Temple, professor of Household Arts, for her inspiring counsel in the course of this research; to Mrs. Adaline Ledbetter, head of Household Arts, for her constructive criticism; to Mrs. E . V. Sherrer of Stillwater, Oklahoma, and to her mother, Mrs. Carl Yates of Grapevine, Texas, for the loan of bags from their collections; to Mr . Alton P. Juhlin of the library staff for his cooperation in securing rare material; and to Mrs. Marie Hatcher of Stillwater, Oklahoma, for helpful suggestions. The person:: el of the following museums have generously contributed to the re2eDrch through their helpful suggestions as to material in permanent collections, photogTaphs, and allusions to literary works regarding purses: the Guildhall Museum, London, England; the Louvre, Paris, France; the American School of Classical Studies, Athens, Greece; the Nordiska Museet , Stockholm, Sweden; t he Sardy Museun, I s tanbul, Turkey; the Norsk Folkrluseum, Oslo, Norwey; the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland; the Nationalnuseet, Kobenhavn, Denmar ; the Arkeologiska Kommissionen of the Nationalmuseet, Helsinki, Finland; the Glasgou Museim1, Glasgou, Scotland; and the Metropolitan Museum, ew York. The manuscript has been greatly enhanced by the photographic repro­ ductions made by John K. Long, professor of voice. V The author is particularly indebted to her husband, Paul T. Klingstedt, head of the Voice Department, for untiring assistance in the translation of St,redish documentary materials and for constant encouragement in the preparation of the manuscript . M.E.Y.K. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIO:N/3 •••,••·•••·•e•••••••••e•"'•• vii I. lWID-:BAGS OJ!' THfi! Af1CIENT PEOPLE •• . 1 II. MEDIEVAL BAGS • ,0 •· • • 0 • • • 11 III. PURSES DDR ING THE REHAISSA11CE . .33 IV. COLOJ:ffAL PURSES • . 55 V. Tl,JEWTIETH CENTURY BJ,NDBAGS • • • 80 VI. IN CONCLUSION • • . 90 BIBLIOGRAPHY •• II" • • • • • 95 APPE~;,n IX • • • . 98 A. Word-List of Terms. • •••• 98 B. Do111es~Gic and Foreig11 Correspondence from Museums and Learned Societies • • . 99 .... ..,u S.J .....; .. "' ..,...,. .... ~.. X{.i:s tot Fa~~ E!s·~:tlJ.. , Grctpev:'L!:.e, 'rc,:uo ~ gr02.:t;-gTa.~drio·:;1:1or o:r ·the airtho:r., holding 11 ·the ,ursc tho:b stw.·tcd 5-·(i alJY • • • • X III. A priest carrying e. s:i.mple handbag. 7 rv. A man i'rOJn a nation to the east of Persia • • • • • • . 8 v. A wome..n captive of Senna Cherib • • • • • . 9 VI. Ancient bags sketched by the author • • • • 10 VII. Medieval Bags sketched by the author. VIII. The chancellor's seal bag, sketched by the author . 25 IX. Bag of thin cloth of gold .. " . 26 x. Bags sketched by the author from the London M•.1se11m Medieval Gnte.logue. .. 27 XI. Sutiion Hoo Purse. .• . • . • 28 XII • .Annu en Perurl.ngv a.ska. Fren • • • 29 XIII. Pennin~1askor • 30 XIV. Pen:rt.ingvaskor . • . 31 XV. Medieval bags of the United Kingdom XVI. J\..rtisants Shop •• • XVII. Draw-string Bags. • • 45 XVIII. The City Purse of London. • • • 46 XDC. German, XVI Ce:ntury ... 47 xx. Escar·celles • • • • . 4S XXI .. Gentleman's Pouch. • • .. 49 XXII. Armorial Bags of France • • . 50 vi:li LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Continu.ed) Pag~ XXIII. Draw-string Bags of France. 51 XXIV. Greek or 'l'urkish - XtvIII Gexr~ury. • 52 nsable11 Work. • • • 53 511- XXVIJ. Au.monieres. 67 XXVIII. Reti ct.iles • • • 68 X..TIX.. Silk bag of Venice, 1860-70 • 69 XXX. Embroidered Purse from Norway (1860). 70 XXXL f'rench--Xnt Century • • • 71 XXXII. Miser Purses. 72 Y..XXIII. Niser Purse of Nort1a.,v-XIX Cerrlittry. • 73 XXXIV. Miser Purses of J:i"'re11ce. • 74 :xr•.xv. Lady •s Traveling-Bag or Pouch Pompac101.n" • 75 XXXVI. Sc:t:1.n Purse of' Fin1tt11d. • • 76 ryry XXXVII. .' XXXVIII. Steel Bags. • • 73 XXXIX. Classic Bags of Fra:nce. 79 Qd,4 XL. Gate-top Bat:l0 ., XLI. Beaded Bags of the •rwentieth Centi.n-.-.r. 85 XLII. Beaded Bags of the Twentie-bh Century. • 86 XLIII. Tooled leather bags . • • FJ7 XLI1l. Shoulder-bag of deer s1d.n • :38 XLV. Bo:K bags of 1953. 89 II 111~s. Estill t: G'l.~cpe·v i11:C) 5 T'e::·r2,e, gr·erdj-\:~:co.12dEtr:1tl1.er· o:e· ti.'1e r:111tJ1or, holding "the pl?J'.'S~ -that s-liD.:rted i-t • 1;t ,111'.l<"LJ I' 1 - ..ltiu•,, ~ " ':i' 1\ ,, t ''3: l'l J-'fi" t , 'i\o ffd~. ·t:, •.14'-" CHAPTE.tl. I HAND-BAGS OF ~mE A1'\fCIENT PEOPLE The archaeological records of ancient civilizations reveal that the 11.borig.ineo devioed pouches and bugs :for carryi:ng small articles. Of necessity, the ancient m:11 kept his ban.de f.eec to p:rotGc-b h:tmself an.a. to pursue routine tasks. •1l1hus it is pre su.med tb,'.t t}10 be.g uar:i cre2.fod to facilite:te the carrying of' objects. One of the earliest orcha.eolo1:;ical records of a bag ox· pouch is the ancient Egyptian nBook oi' the Deoon preserved in the British Museum. 'fh:i.s stone re.lief shows HUP-'ti'er, ove:..~seer of the polaco and cattle of Hen-Jfoo..t-Rc. (Seti I, King of Ewpt abet.rt 1370 B.C.), c.nd hie 1;ifc Ho.ohc.. Hu..rJ.fer has; what appeors to be, tuo flat, envelope-type p;.,r.:-00s connected biJ c?'.1cins thrmm over his left c.:rm.l Also housed in the British Museum is 11n Assyri2.11 1~oliof dating fro:o the First Empire, 885 B .c. to 856 13 .c., which i\1rniches further evidence of the type hags used by m1ciont peoples. Plcte III is a line drm1i11c ma.de of a priest fi[f!.ll'e uhich c.ppam•s on the face oi' this relief. ·rhe prief.'lt is shown co.rrying a plnin, bucket-shaped hnnd-bc.g in h:i.s left hand and n pine cone in his rieht one. 2 In describine; costur:1es of tho ancient Persinns, Houston and Hornblower included a drawing of tm eighth cenfau"Y B.C. costme presumably uorn by 1G. Woolliscroft 11heo.d, Cl':£-1~ S!l1 f..2.J).Ji]D.£ (Heu Yo:rk, 1906), p. 63. 2r,ullia Davenport, ~ "f299lf !2};. QfiE.t~ {1'!ew York, 191)3), p. 51, Fig. 13. 2 the men of some nation to t he east of Persi a . 3 Illustrat ed on Plate IV i s t he figure of a man ·n. t h a pouch- like bag thrOlm over t he right shouJ. er and a simple hand-bag of the same bucket shape clutched in the ripht hand . The contour of the pouc - like bac indicctes that it was of a pliable aterial and might have been made f skin. Heither of these bags nor the one on Plate III are decorated. Of approxinat ely the same chronological period is t he woman captive of Senna Cherib s O\m on Plate V. 4 The round bag carried in the left _and appears to have a flexible handle rurl is a orned with two very plain bands of zig- zag lines. From the burial markers of the Etruscans of about 1500 B.