Handkerchief case
Category
Textiles
Date
1725 - 1825
Materials
Birchbark, Moosehair, Silk
Place of origin
North America
Order this imageCollection
Snowshill Wade Costume Collection, Gloucestershire
NT 1349965
Summary
Handkerchief case - Made with natural birch bark top and bottom with sides of pink silk with a woven pattern. It is handstitched and decorated with multicoloured design of leaves and flowers in dyed moosehair. The edges are piped in white moosehair. Birchbark embroidered with moosehair is an indiginous craft of the North American Indians. Some designs show the influence of the French Ursuline nuns who settled in Canada in the 17th century and taught French designs to Indian girls in their convents. See Pamela Clabburn 'Needleworker's Dictionary' p30 and 174 for full details. (female)
Provenance
Given to National Trust with Snowshill Manor in 1951 by Charles Paget Wade