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Materials: Glass beads, cotton thread, cardboard, baleen and needle-run lace. Provenance: I am working on uncovering the provenance of this reticule. It came from the same family estate as Beaded Purse #1856. In the18th century the estate this reticule came from traces back to Rebecca Kingsbury (b.1713, d. 1807) of West Dedham, Massachusetts. On April 10, 1740 Miss Kingsbury married Nathaniel Gay, This reticule I believe belonged to their daughter, Susannah Gay Plimpton. Label: Paper label inside purse, inscribed in pencil (probably by an ancestor) reads, "18th century bag". Condition: Excellent, if not for a couple of tiny holes in the stockinet, I would have called this perfect. Measurements: 8.25" Ht x 5.5" Wd. Comments: An identical beaded and knit reticule is pictured on page 99 of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's costume book, The Age of Napoleon. There is another very similar lady's bag in Vanda Foster's book, Bags and Purses, on page 38. Ms. Foster explains that in the early 19th century Germany "developed a large home industry in beaded bags, using glass beads from Bohemia." It was a complex process to knit the beads one by one to create these desirable, geometric bags. Foster states that the women who made these bags had to be highly skilled "to form the detailed, three-dimensional designs." I surmise that bags such as this one were imported from abroad and sold to wealthy, fashion conscious American women. This reticule is a rare and wonderful example of an early 19th century fashion accessory.
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