Old tasselled small handwoven(?) bag - dating and description help?

[retro ruth]

Hi all,

I've acquired this rather lovely little bag, and am fairly stumped as to dating. I have a rough guestimated idea, but I'd like to hear what anyone else thinks.

The outside feels and looks like silk, but on burn testing I think it's some kind of rayon. The bag measures approx 6 inches, across and down, excluding handle and tassle.

I'd also appreciate help in describing, Is there a name for this shape of bag - a reticule perhaps? Or for this fabric, which appears to be hand woven out from the brass rings.

Any help appreciated, and many thanks in advance

Ruth

 

[Jonathan]

The little pink rosebud trim along the edge of the lining is typically 1920s and likely rayon, as is the lining. I don't think the question is so much when as where this is from? I think this might be from some off-beat place like Madiera, or Singapore, or Ankara... the basket-weaving technique looks ethnic to me but which ethnicity I don't know.

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

Hi,

This is really a wonderful little purse. The design reminds me very much of a Northern Africa basket purse. However I suspect it was not made there, just influenced by that culture. I agree with Jonathan on the tiny roses, you do see those on the small 'Teens and 20's purses.

Basketry was a very popular home craft for women during the Arts and Crafts Era in this country...I have books on home crafts for women with examples of very small basket purses from that time, around 1910-1920. Many were influenced by Native American designs. What is most interesting is that it is not made from straw or reed like a true basket, it is made from rayon thread or floss. So it is not a true basket purse, but looks made the same way or to mimic those deisgns.

I do see either an African or perhaps Native American influence.

I simply adore it. It is quite unique.

B

 

[retro ruth]

Thanks Jonathan and Barbara, your insights are very useful. I was thinking early 20th Century, 1930s at the latest, so nice to know I was fairly on the mark.

Interesting that it might be a foreign artisan piece - I hadn't thought of that. My intuition was that it was a skilled home project, which chimes with what Barbara said, but I hadn't thought about the Arts & Crafts movement in particular, nor did I know about Native American influence at that time.

And it's great to hear you how much like it Barbara! I think it's very beautiful too, and quite unique as you say.

Ruth