Workbag
Date1740-1760
OriginAsia, China (textile)
MediumSilk Damask (Chinese Export); Green Silk Ribbon (Drawstring); Green Silk Thread (Construction); Wool (Padding in Channel Around Perimeter of Purse)
DimensionsWidth: 6 1/2"; Height: 8 1/4"
Credit LineGift of The Metropolital Museum of Art, Costume Institute.
Object number1993-127
DescriptionRectangular drawstring bag of salmon and yellow/beige silk damask in floral pattern. Sewn with double row of stitching at sides and bottom. The two rows of stitching create a channel which has been filled with wool. Green silk ribbon is drawn through a drawstring casing at top.Construction History:
1. 1740-1760: Initial construction of fabric. Characteristic holes in the selvage of the silk gown (1985-143, 1+2) is evidence of a temple bar used in the weaving of Chinese silks, indicating the fabric's origins in China before being exported to the West.
2. 1740-1760: Initial Construction of bag
Label TextLabel text for shoes 1993-126, 1+2:
These shoes match a woman's gown and two pocketbooks of the same imported Chinese silk damask (see Accession Numbers 1985-143, 1993-127, and 1993-128.) The gown, shoes, and pocketbooks were apparently worn in New York by the same woman.
MarkingsNone found.
ProvenanceThese shoes match a woman's gown and two pocketbooks of the same imported Chinese silk damask (see Accession Numbers 1985-143, 1993-127, and 1993-128.) The gown, shoes, and pocketbooks were apparently worn in New York by the same woman in the 18th century and likely in the 20th century by a descendant of the family.
The original owner of the ensemble is listed as Mary Lynch, but the geneological information aligns with a woman names Maria Lents (it is likely simply a misreading or misspelling). She was baptised approximately 1709 and is said to have descended from the 1730-1731 acting governor of the New York colony, Rip Van Dam. Although this is unsubstantiated, she was certainly married to an Egbert Benjamin Egberts. They married in 1740, lived in Albany, owned property in New York City, and had four children. Her death date is unknown but at the time of Egberts' will in 1760 she was still living. A mourning locket in the New York Historical Society attributed to the Egberts family lists Egbert Egberts' death date as 1771 and Maria Lents' as 1784.
