Evening pouch

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Knitted beadwork bags, whether made from a pattern or in a professional workshop, were de rigueur for the fashionable 19th-century woman. The motifs on this evening bag are simple and elegant. The variation of round and beveled beads adds surface texture and sparkle. Violets against a black ground suggest the colors of half-mourning; in Victorian floriography, blue violets represent faithfulness. Margaret S. Bedell (1861-1932) donated, by gift or bequest, over 500 objects to the Brooklyn Museum, including furniture, quilts, samplers, costume and Native American beadwork. Her collection of American and European beaded bags includes examples from Philadelphia and the Catskill Mountain region of New York State, as well as Italy, Austria, Germany, and Holland.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art