Embroidered Pocketbook
Maker
Deacon Family
Periodca. 1800 - 1820
MediumPlied silk thread, canvas, silk, and cardboard
Dimensions4.13 × 3.5 × 0.63 in. (10.5 × 8.9 × 1.6 cm)
ClassificationsNeedlework
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Stuart A. Young, Jr., 1975
Object number1975.21.2
DescriptionA small rectangular pocketbook with front and back panels stiffened with cardboard and a shallow shaped foldover flap. The exterior of the case is of linen ground entirely embroidered in plied silk threads in deep green, dull pink, soft tan, and oyster white. The diamond and diagonal panel pattern is worked in Queen stitch. The interior of the front and back panels as well as the flap are lined in drab green plain woven silk. Two accordion fold pockets, constructed of fine dull brown plain weave silk and stiffened with cardboard panels, are sewn into the interior. Brown silk wedges form side gussets. The brown silk used for the pockets and gussets has been neatly and discreetly pieced in several areas during construction.Curatorial RemarksSmall pocketbooks of this size were sometimes called notecases or cardcases. In some examples, small silver clasps kept the foldover flaps from opening. This very simple pocketbook is lined with dress quality silk, carefully pieced together from scraps in order accomodate the case's size.NotesThe pocketbook was accompanied in the same gift by a terrestrial globe worked by Hannah E. Deacon (1799 - 1869) at the Westtown School in Chester County, Pennsylvania (see accession number 1975.21.1). Deacon was from Burlington, New Jersey, the fifth of of twelve children of John Deacon and Hannah Eyre. It appears likely that the small case may have been stitched by a member of the Deacon family. Neither Hannah nor her five sisters ever married.
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