|
Home
>
Worthopedia – Price Guide
>
Antiquities >
1833 Maine Woodland Indian Beaded Handbag MaineAtticFin
|
Terms and Conditions for using our site |
1833 Maine Woodland Indian Beaded Handbag MaineAtticFin
Sold For:
 or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Antique handmade, hand sewn Maine Woodland Indian made beaded handbag with seed beaded velvet front and rear panels portraying abstract floral designs emanating from stylized oak leaves & acorns, each with a single bird with a berry in it's mouth, with the initials & date "A M 1833" on the front panel mounted to a black silk pocket bag with jet black tubular bead fringe, original brown sized chintz inner liner, a handmade & hand sewn heart shaped well used pen wipe of dark green velvet with a goose feather quill stump pen holder found inside the handbag, in the old "BENOIT'S" Maine department store box it has been stored in for decades and retaining it's absolutely untouched, as found, surface & condition. Maine , 1833. Guaranteed old and original; this is not a fake or reproduction. Actual weight 1 lbs. Approximately 9 ½" square by 3/8" thick. Pen wipe 2 1/8" wide by 2 ½" tall. We found this in the attic of a Yarmouth , Maine estate two weeks ago. A familiar type of northeastern Woodland Indian bead work, this is a singular EARLY handbag form with truly stunning bead work. The bead work panels are a dense, heavily beaded, fully abstract yet concisely Woodland Native American stylized & abstract floral designs emanating from large oak leaves with attached acorns. In the center of each panel is a single bird perched on a floral sprig and holding a red berry in it's mouth. On the front panel, at the top are the initials & date "A M 1833". These two beaded panels are a treat of color, form, craft quality and historic design bundled into a single eye stopping bang. This quality is greatly complimented by the early date and early style of this decoration form. Three or four decades later this beaded purse & handbag format would become a progressively standardized & patterned production ending is a disingenuous tourist style production by the late 19th Century and vanishing as a Maine Indian craft in the early 20th Century. found, this is an exceptionally early abstract design that carries both the traditional Maine Woodland Indian stylization while anticipating the later purse / pocket bag stylization too. It is a remarkable, dated, transition work that captures the true unspoiled Maine Indian design theme well and before it became a pattern book style copyist production. This is absolutely instantly reinforced by the center of the target silk handbag that affirms that "THIS IS OLD - THIS IS THE REAL THING". Bang, bam, boom Maine Indian art that is coastal Maine estate attic fresh found too. "Wow, wow" and we'd keep this one if we were not dealers for these are just plain NICE before one even starts on the American and Native American art trail. That trail is the Indian woman beading the panels at her nomadic camps in coastal Maine . The completed panels are then mounted to a handmade & hand sewn black silk purse with a brown sized chintz interior (that is in great shape and has great original sizing). Please remember these women did not go to a store and buy materials. This was probably a collaborated production w a Coastal Maine woman supplied the materials and suggested the pocket bag form to a Native American woman summering on the coast who then made the bag and pen wipe for trade to her benefactor. Once traded for, it is important to understand that in the new home, the purse was considered, at best, an Indian curiosity. THIS CONCEALS THE ACTUAL FACT that the handbag was SO WELL MADE and of such FINE DESIGN QUALITY, that even a proper & well to do Coastal Maine housewife "liked it" "even though an Indian made it". It was preserved because of that. Considering the social-economic heritage of this handbag, it remains an absurdly neglected form of continental north American art that also is proof-pudding GREAT ART! Very good as found condition . At first sight, the handbag appears perfect except for some wear to the black velvet, a hole at the bottom of the rear beaded panel, some minor tiggy-taggy deterioration to the silk pull cords and some breaks & loss to the beaded frin...
Items in the Worthopedia are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.
View Similar ItemsMore Items from eBay
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Joining is free and gives you access to our Community & Forums.
If you are interested in our pricing data or other paid memberships, try our Full 7-day Free Trial Here.
By creating an account you agree to our Terms & Conditions
