The need to store and carry with them, from a very early age, led men and women to create bags and purses for their belongings, food, weapons, currency.
Later, pouches appeared with the same purpose, either as an integral part of clothing or as a detachable complement, hanging from the waist.
At the end of the 18th century, fluid female attire, without a waist, close to the body, imposed the hand bag. As this costume is “empire”, inspired by the fashion of the Roman Empire, then visible in the fresco paintings of the ruins of Pompeii, exposed at that time, the “reticulum”, mesh bags used by Roman women, also influenced many models.
The women’s bag we show you here, despite being from the beginning of the 19th century, reflects this taste.
Executed with needle mesh, forming vertical bars, alternately smooth and lacy, the smooth bars are embroidered with bouquets of flowers, birds and insects. It has a rigid base, made of bamboo segments placed in a zigzag pattern, suggesting a basket. It ends at the top with a bobbin lace frill and fastens with laces, finished off with two tassels.