Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History


    • Purse, early 17th century
    English
    Canvas worked with silk and metal thread, glass beads, spangles; Gobelin, tent, and detached buttonhole stitches

    5 1/8 x 5 1/8 in. (13 x 13 cm) excluding tassels and draw cord
    Rogers Fund, by exchange, 1929 (29.23.15)

    Small decorative purses and bags such as this one rarely appear in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century portraits, but they have survived in relatively large numbers. This example, with its lively pattern of flowers, birds, and butterflies, was executed with a generous amount of gold and silver metal thread of very high quality, worked with polychrome silk threads to create subtly shaded colors.

    This work of art also appears on Connections: Details

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • "Textiles in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 53, no. 3 (Winter, 1995–96).
    JSTOR | PDFs
    • "20th Century" PDF
    • "Africa, Oceania, and the Americas" PDF
    • "Ancient Near Eastern" PDF
    • "Asian" PDF
    • "Director's Foreword: Antonio Ratti Textile Center" PDF
    • "Egyptian" PDF
    • "Egyptian Cont." PDF
    • "European 16th-19th Centuries" PDF
    • "Introduction" PDF
    • "Islamic" PDF
    • "Medieval" PDF
    • "United States 18th-19th Century" PDF
    • Not on view
    MoveSeparatorPrint
    Close
    • Purse, early 17th century
    English
    Canvas worked with silk and metal thread, glass beads, spangles; Gobelin, tent, and detached buttonhole stitches

    5 1/8 x 5 1/8 in. (13 x 13 cm) excluding tassels and draw cord
    Rogers Fund, by exchange, 1929 (29.23.15)

    Macro image, magnified 30 times

    Macro image, magnified 30 times

    Macro image, magnified 30 times

    Macro image, magnified 30 times

    In this case, the gold filé has a white-silk core. The colors of the silk thread used in the silver filé correspond to the colors used in the silk-thread stitches surrounding it. The silk core contains up to four colors combined in the two-ply thread. The width of the metal strip in the gold filé is twice that of the width of the strip in the silver filé. Flattened metal coils follow this same proportion. The wire of the coils used here is both round and flattened, in both round and checked purl. The checked purl has been twisted to create a ribbed effect.

    Macro image, magnified 30 times


    Move
    Close
    fullMultimediaText