Saturday 21 November 2009

Some spectacular embroidered & beaded antique evening bags












With the party season almost upon us, I thought I would look out a few pretty little antique evening bags to sell.
The geometric beadwork bag is French Art Deco, and is really heavy for its size, completely encrusted front & back with tiny glass beads in an elegant cream, brown and black pallette, a pefect example of Deco restraint and elegance.
The bird & roses beadwork bag is again French, made with the tiniest coloured glass beads, most likely mid 19th century with its typical Victorian-style design, but I think the beaded panel has been sewn to its navy silk velvet back at a later date.
The black velvet reticule is beaded all over with hand made white glass beads and embellished with gold metal thread decoration. I think it dates to anything from 1900-1930, and is either Indian, or inspired by Indian textiles.
The last bag is a superb example of mid to late 19th century needlepoint, to the naked eye, it looks like a machine woven design, but on closer inspection, the exquisite stitches are revealed, stitched onto very fine canvas, the background has been left unstitched. The frame is beautiful, gilt metal with little imitation pearls, and it is lined with pale green grosgrain silk.

All of these very different bags are incredibly beautiful in their own way, but they are all a little delicate for me, I am a bit of a clumsy so & so, I would probably break anything as dainty as these beauties, so I will be sticking to my gorgeous 1930s, indestructable and capacious lady's leather Gladstone Bag to be on the safe side...

4 comments:

  1. Absolutely gorgeous as usual, the colours and styles are delicious, a real feat for the eyes. Thank you for posting these delights

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  2. You are welcome Zoe! I always appreciate your inciteful comments! xxx

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  3. These are so, so exquisite. I must admit, I am partial to the last bag. Oh my, what a gem. I love coming to your blog. It always helps me to remember that beauty is indeed restorative and necessary in our lives.

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  4. Thanks Phyllis, one of the reasons I am so fond of textiles is their beauty, sometimes elegant or blissfully blousey, like these bags, but at other times they show their beauty through their simplicity, for example, a pure white linen sheet made as a dowry piece and treasured for a lifetime, or a simple cushion cover recycled from a threadbare pair of curtains or bdspread.

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