374 (19)

347

Purses

along its bottom edge; seamed along each side and stitched round the top opening; grain/flesh stitch holes. There are two drawstrings, which were originally knotted at the sides, and a handle madę from two strips of leather. These have a smali slit at one end, which fitted into the top comers of the pouch and through which the drawstrings passed to secure the handle in position; stitch holes at the opposite ends show they were sewn together. Finished h 88mm; w 90mm.

Leather pouch with silk edging

A different type of silk edging from that worked with tablets is illustrated by an incomplete exam-ple where silk ribbon was used to bind the leather, which was recovered from a deposit dating to the late 14th century (ceramic phase 11) (no. 1696, fig 229). The leather used for the front is engraved with parallel lines. A similar techniąue was used to embellish some contemporary shoes with long piked toes (Grew and de Neergaard 1988, figs 119-121), which came from the same deposit. There is, however, a strong possibility that the pouch was madę from recycled leather (not offcuts) sińce the decoration makes little attempt to reflect the shape of the pouch, and this is in contrast to the shoes where the decoration was designed to fit the shape of the uppers. As a further decorative touch the pouch was embroid-ered on the front and back with smali knots worked in cross-stitch using silk thread.

The upper section of this pouch is not pre-served and its method of fastening is therefore uncertain. The lower edge was finished with silk ribbon. Two narrow ribbons were stitched together with a third concealed inside, which acted as a reinforcement. This type of edging appears to have superseded that worked with tablets, although it can be seen from the evidence presented here that the two methods were apparently both in use during the late 14th century. A smali, red velvet reliąuary pouch dating to the 15th century in the Abbey of St Maurice, Saint Maurice, Switzerland, has a similar silk binding stitched round its opening (Schmedding 1978, 191-2 no. 162). The impression gained from examining the London pouch is that, unlike the other examples, it was not professionally madę.

1696 BC72 acc. no. 3617 (context 150) ceramic phase 11 fig 229

Possibly deerskin (AML). Part of a smali pouch madę from two pieces of leather, of which neither the sides nor the top edge are preserved. The front is engraved with pairs of parallel lines and embellished with smali crosses sewn in two-ply silk thread, which also appear originally to have adomed the back of the pouch. The edge is bound with two similar tabby-woven silk ribbons, which were sewn together by placing two of their selvedges side by side; the opposite selvedge of one

229 Leather pouch edged with silk ribbon no. 1696 (3:4). Detail showing engraved decoration and silk embroidery (5:1)