A Beautifully Pieced Meiji Era Large Drawstring Bag: Silks and Mousseline

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
8" x 12" x 12", 20.25 cm x 30.5 cm x 30.5 cm

This is a large, piece-constructed drawstring bag hand stitched from about 11 individual pieces of 19th century silks and mousseline, a kind of extremely lightweight wool cloth. The bright red pieces on this bag are mousseline, and as they are woolen, they show evidence of being moth eaten.

The spirit of this bag is high: it is really lovely to look at and is beautifully hand stitched: about 1/2 the loops on the drawstring top are intact still allowing the bag to be drawn closed--and the cording is probably original to the bag.

The bag is lined in undyed, hand spun, hand loomed cotton

This bag may have been a komebukuro or a bag that was used to present a token amount of rice or beans to a temple or shrine during a festival, however it is quite large and may have been made for another use.

Really, really lovely.