Gifts of Grandeur: Painted Silk Velvet Panels from a Reticule, 1820-1830

Silk Velvet Panel
England, 1820-1830
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Painted between 1820 and 1830, these silk velvet panels were intended to be used in the construction of a reticule (also known as “indispensibles”). Ostensibly purses, reticules were used in the early Nineteenth Century by women to carry necessities such as smelling salts and a handkerchief. A lady might often make and decorate her own reticule at home using a store-bought lightweight frame of silver or steal with chain handles.

Amateur artists often painted onto silk velvet pieces which could be incorporated into a variety of projects. The painted velvet, owing to the pile of the fabric, afforded an appealing sense of depth and richness. It was also an interesting visual counterpoint to the preferred method of the Eighteenth Century—painting on silk taffeta.

These panels were surely painted at home by a now unknown lady. Both show a lively scene of flowers and butterflies against a ground of gold silk velvet. The shape suggests that they were meant to be sewn onto a reticule frame, but, it somehow never made it. Perhaps they are preserved because of it.

After a Fashion: A French Beadwork Purse, 1780-1800

Beadwork Purse
Unknown French Workshop, 1780-1800
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The European love of beadwork rose in the Seventeenth Century, and by the Eighteenth Century, this expensive technique became available to a wider audience as many workshops in England, Italy and France produced small items glistening with glass beads. In France, the medium was often found on delicate purses. French workshops produced some of the finest multi-colored beadwork in Europe during this period. These French craftsmen used beads in conjunction with other techniques, to highlight parts of an embroidered pattern. The most expensive examples were made with a single bead for every stitch, producing a dense beaded surface.

This purse is an excellent representation of the fine beadwork produced in France in the Eighteenth Century. It depicts a figure of a woman in a garden, leaning on a plinth with a rolled parasol in her right hand and a small dog at her feet. The purse was made in four sections, each bearing an allegorical figure, one representing Justice, with finish-work of pink silk cords and tassels. It was made between 1780 and 1800.

History's Runway: The Parrot Bag, 1790-1800

Hand Bag
England, 1790-1800
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Fashions of the late Eighteenth to early Nineteenth Centuries saw a transition between hidden interior pockets and external reticules and handbags as a means of storing personal items which were needed on a daily basis. While interior pockets remained in garments, reticules allowed for more portability and versatility as well as a means to show off a bit.

Early reticules like this one still resembled pockets. Still, they were often embroidered and adorned with beads and spangles. They usually closed with drawstrings. This bad is embroidered with a Grecian urn billowing over with flowers. A large parrot adorns the center of the bag. Pink tassels give the bag even more character.

This is the work of a English needlework and was probably made in the home between 1790 and 1800.

History's Runway: The Harrods' Tassel Bag, 1790

This beautiful item had been collected by the Messrs Harrods Ltd. Who donated it to the Victoria & Albert Museum. This Bag or pocket features drawstrings and is embroidered with flowers coming out of a Grecian or Roman urn with a parrot motif in the center. It takes its name from the pink tassel and pink tassel string straps.

The bag is important historically in that it shows the transition between hidden pockets and the external reticule. Though it is embroidered for show and is closed with drawstrings, the bag still resembles a pocket.

Gifts of Grandeur: Painted Silk Velvet Panels from a Reticule, 1820-1830

Silk Velvet Panel
England, 1820-1830
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Painted between 1820 and 1830, these silk velvet panels were intended to be used in the construction of a reticule (also known as “indispensibles”). Ostensibly purses, reticules were used in the early Nineteenth Century by women to carry necessities such as smelling salts and a handkerchief. A lady might often make and decorate her own reticule at home using a store-bought lightweight frame of silver or steal with chain handles.

Amateur artists often painted onto silk velvet pieces which could be incorporated into a variety of projects. The painted velvet, owing to the pile of the fabric, afforded an appealing sense of depth and richness. It was also an interesting visual counterpoint to the preferred method of the Eighteenth Century—painting on silk taffeta.

These panels were surely painted at home by a now unknown lady. Both show a lively scene of flowers and butterflies against a ground of gold silk velvet. The shape suggests that they were meant to be sewn onto a reticule frame, but, it somehow never made it. Perhaps they are preserved because of it.

History's Runway: A Leather Reticule, 1819

The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here we see a rectangular brown leather reticule with a flap and a brass catch, a stamped gilt border and panels of tortoiseshell surrounding two ivory panels incised with designs of floral baskets. This surprisingly current-looking bad features a gilt chain. The leather is marked, “BATH 1819,” though it looks like a handbag which would be in vogue in 2013.


The leather handbag was first introduced around 1815 in the form of an envelope-like pocket with a flap which fastened by means of a metal catch. Many, like this one, were adorned with metal plaques, or insets of tortoiseshell or ivory panels.

This bag still contains a letter with the watermark BATH 1819. It is addressed to Mrs. Kennedy, Capel Street, and reads “May I request My dear Mrs Kennedys acceptance of this small Christmas tribute - and wishing you many happy returns of the day. I remain very very affectionately M. Hamilton, Christmas Day.”

Clearly both the letter and the Christmas gift were cherished by Mrs. Kennedy as they have remained in pristine condition for nearly two hundred years.

History's Runway: The Shell Handbag, 1820-40

(RIGHT) Shell Hand Bag, 1820-40
The Victoria & Albert Museum

By the early Nineteenth Century, the fashionable reticules (soft purses, often made of beads) of the previous decades began to change in shape in material. Soon, they resembled the later handbag, both in construction and fastening.

Rigid shapes were constructed from molded papier-mâché or card which was overlaid with silk.  Handbags soon took new forms such as circles, lyres, urns, eggs and, even, shells with the two halves hinged with silk or leather cord. Concertina (or accordion) sides between the two rigid halves allowed the bag to open all the way without spilling the contents.   

Here, we see an example of the most popular shape—the shell.  Covered in red velvet, this rigid reticule boasts a body of papier-mâché which has been pressed into the shape of a scalloped shell with alternating daisies and roses impressed round the border.

A metal chain and cut steel flowers-shaped studs give this bag an enduringly contemporary look which belies its date of creation—circa 1820.   The color combination is also very modern looking--the sides and bottom are covered in bright pink satin which contrasts with the red velvet cover and white linen lining.   

History's Runway: A Leather Reticule, 1819

The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here we see a rectangular brown leather reticule with a flap and a brass catch, a stamped gilt border and panels of tortoiseshell surrounding two ivory panels incised with designs of floral baskets. This surprisingly current-looking bad features a gilt chain. The leather is marked, “BATH 1819,” though it looks like a handbag which would be in vogue in 2013.


The leather handbag was first introduced around 1815 in the form of an envelope-like pocket with a flap which fastened by means of a metal catch. Many, like this one, were adorned with metal plaques, or insets of tortoiseshell or ivory panels.

This bag still contains a letter with the watermark BATH 1819. It is addressed to Mrs. Kennedy, Capel Street, and reads “May I request My dear Mrs Kennedys acceptance of this small Christmas tribute - and wishing you many happy returns of the day. I remain very very affectionately M. Hamilton, Christmas Day.”

Clearly both the letter and the Christmas gift were cherished by Mrs. Kennedy as they have remained in pristine condition for nearly two hundred years.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A French Beadwork Purse, 1780-1800

Beadwork Purse
Unknown French Workshop, 1780-1800
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Good morning, all!  I have a confession to make.  I'm having another busy week which is pulling me in many different directions.  I had planned a special theme for today and to unveil our most exceptional "Treat of the Week," but I've not had a chance to prepare those articles properly yet.  So, we're going to switch days and today, you get beads!  Beads, beads and more beads!

Tomorrow, comes my promised special features AND a Gratuitous Bertie Dog Picture.  But, for now...beads!  Carry on, then...

The European love of beadwork rose in the Seventeenth Century, and by the Eighteenth Century, this expensive technique became available to a wider audience as many workshops in England, Italy and France produced small items glistening with glass beads. In France, the medium was often found on delicate purses. French workshops produced some of the finest multi-colored beadwork in Europe during this period. These French craftsmen used beads in conjunction with other techniques, to highlight parts of an embroidered pattern. The most expensive examples were made with a single bead for every stitch, producing a dense beaded surface.

This purse is an excellent representation of the fine beadwork produced in France in the Eighteenth Century. It depicts a figure of a woman in a garden, leaning on a plinth with a rolled parasol in her right hand and a small dog at her feet. The purse was made in four sections, each bearing an allegorical figure, one representing Justice, with finish-work of pink silk cords and tassels. It was made between 1780 and 1800.

History's Runway: The Harrods' Tassel Bag, 1790

This beautiful item had been collected by the Messrs Harrods Ltd. Who donated it to the Victoria & Albert Museum. This Bag or pocket features drawstrings and is embroidered with flowers coming out of a Grecian or Roman urn with a parrot motif in the center. It takes its name from the pink tassel and pink tassel string straps.

The bag is important historically in that it shows the transition between hidden pockets and the external reticule. Though it is embroidered for show and is closed with drawstrings, the bag still resembles a pocket.

Gifts of Grandeur: The Purse of Mary, Queen of Scots, 16th C.

Purse
Sixteenth Century
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

A shimmering masterwork of silk, embroidered in silver and gold thread, this pear-shaped purse is said to have belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots. The purse is adorned with a crossed sword and scepter below a crown. On the reverse, a dove with an olive branch has been embroidered below a scroll. The purse was bequeathed by Lord Belhaven,  who long asserted that the Sixteenth-Century piece belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, to Queen Victoria.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: An Abolitionist Reticule from 1825

Reticule made by The Female Society for the Abolition of Slavery, 1825
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This reticule or handbag dates to 1825 and comes with associated pamphlets.  This is one of two in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection that were produced by the Female Society for Birmingham as a part of their campaign for the abolition of slavery.

The Female Society was founded in 1825 when it was originally called the “Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves” in West Bromwich, near Birmingham. Bags such as this one were produced by women at sewing circles where they worked to decorate objects with abolitionist emblems.  These items were meant to decorate their homes, but were also intended for advertising purposes and for distribution as part of their campaigning activities.

Famous recipients of these items included King George IV, Princess Victoria and other aristocrats and wives of prominent politicians.

This white silk bag is printed on the front in black with a scene of an African woman, sitting under a tree. She is holding a child in her arms. To the right an overseer wearing a broad-brimmed hat, loose shirt, cravat, short jacket, and trousers, carries a whip.  With his left hand he points toward black slaves hoeing in a field. Under this powerful image is a short inscription and there is another inscription printed on the back of the bag.

The inscriptions read:

Negro Woman, who sittest pining in / captivity and weepest over thy sick / child: though noone seeth thee, / God seeth thee; though noone pitieth thee, / God pitieth thee; raise thy voice forlorn / and abandoned one; call upon him / from amidst they bonds for assuredly / He will hear thee.

Two pamphlets from the society remain in the purse from 1825.  

Gifts of Grandeur: Painted Silk Velvet Panels from a Reticule, 1820-1830

Silk Velvet Panel
England, 1820-1830
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Painted between 1820 and 1830, these silk velvet panels were intended to be used in the construction of a reticule (also known as “indispensibles”). Ostensibly purses, reticules were used in the early Nineteenth Century by women to carry necessities such as smelling salts and a handkerchief. A lady might often make and decorate her own reticule at home using a store-bought lightweight frame of silver or steal with chain handles.

Amateur artists often painted onto silk velvet pieces which could be incorporated into a variety of projects. The painted velvet, owing to the pile of the fabric, afforded an appealing sense of depth and richness. It was also an interesting visual counterpoint to the preferred method of the Eighteenth Century—painting on silk taffeta.

These panels were surely painted at home by a now unknown lady. Both show a lively scene of flowers and butterflies against a ground of gold silk velvet. The shape suggests that they were meant to be sewn onto a reticule frame, but, it somehow never made it. Perhaps they are preserved because of it.

History's Runway: The Parrot Bag, 1790-1800

Hand Bag
England, 1790-1800
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Fashions of the late Eighteenth to early Nineteenth Centuries saw a transition between hidden interior pockets and external reticules and handbags as a means of storing personal items which were needed on a daily basis. While interior pockets remained in garments, reticules allowed for more portability and versatility as well as a means to show off a bit.

Early reticules like this one still resembled pockets. Still, they were often embroidered and adorned with beads and spangles. They usually closed with drawstrings. This bad is embroidered with a Grecian urn billowing over with flowers. A large parrot adorns the center of the bag. Pink tassels give the bag even more character.

This is the work of a English needlework and was probably made in the home between 1790 and 1800.

History's Runway: The Shell Handbag, 1820-40

(RIGHT) Shell Hand Bag, 1820-40
The Victoria & Albert Museum

By the early Nineteenth Century, the fashionable reticules (soft purses, often made of beads) of the previous decades began to change in shape in material.  Soon, they resembled the later handbag, both in construction and fastening.

Rigid shapes were constructed from molded papier-mâché or card which was overlaid with silk.  Handbags soon took new forms such as circles, lyres, urns,  eggs and, even, shells with the two halves hinged with silk or leather cord.  Concertina (or accordion) sides between the two rigid halves allowed the bag to open all the way without spilling the contents.   

Here, we see an example of the most popular shape—the shell.  Covered in red velvet, this rigid reticule boasts a body of papier-mâché which has been pressed into the shape of a scalloped shell with alternating daisies and roses impressed round the border.

A metal chain and cut steel flowers-shaped studs give this bag an enduringly contemporary look which belies its date of creation—circa 1820.   The color combination is also very modern looking--the sides and bottom are covered in bright pink satin which contrasts with the red velvet cover and white linen lining.   

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: An Abolitionist Reticule from 1825

Reticule made by The Female Society for the Abolition of Slavery, 1825
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This reticule or handbag dates to 1825 and comes with associated pamphlets.  This is one of two in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection that were produced by the Female Society for Birmingham as a part of their campaign for the abolition of slavery.

The Female Society was founded in 1825 when it was originally called the “Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves” in West Bromwich, near Birmingham. Bags such as this one were produced by women at sewing circles where they worked to decorate objects with abolitionist emblems.  These items were meant to decorate their homes, but were also intended for advertising purposes and for distribution as part of their campaigning activities.

Famous recipients of these items included King George IV, Princess Victoria and other aristocrats and wives of prominent politicians.

This white silk bag is printed on the front in black with a scene of an African woman, sitting under a tree. She is holding a child in her arms. To the right an overseer wearing a broad-brimmed hat, loose shirt, cravat, short jacket, and trousers, carries a whip.  With his left hand he points toward black slaves hoeing in a field. Under this powerful image is a short inscription and there is another inscription printed on the back of the bag.

The inscriptions read:

Negro Woman, who sittest pining in / captivity and weepest over thy sick / child: though noone seeth thee, / God seeth thee; though noone pitieth thee, / God pitieth thee; raise thy voice forlorn / and abandoned one; call upon him / from amidst they bonds for assuredly / He will hear thee.

Two pamphlets from the society remain in the purse from 1825. 

History's Runway: A Leather Reticule, 1819

The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here we see a rectangular brown leather reticule with a flap and a brass catch, a stamped gilt border and panels of tortoiseshell surrounding two ivory panels incised with designs of floral baskets. This surprisingly current-looking bad features a gilt chain. The leather is marked, “BATH 1819,” though it looks like a handbag which would be in vogue in 2011.


The leather handbag was first introduced around 1815 in the form of an envelope-like pocket with a flap which fastened by means of a metal catch. Many, like this one, were adorned with metal plaques, or insets of tortoiseshell or ivory panels.

This bag still contains a letter with the watermark BATH 1819. It is addressed to Mrs. Kennedy, Capel Street, and reads “May I request My dear Mrs Kennedys acceptance of this small Christmas tribute - and wishing you many happy returns of the day. I remain very very affectionately M. Hamilton, Christmas Day.”

Clearly both the letter and the Christmas gift were cherished by Mrs. Kennedy as they have remained in pristine condition for nearly two hundred years.