Pocketbook

Date1727

OriginAfrica, Morocco, Tetuan (possibly)

MediumLeather embroidered with metallic threads, silk, paper

Dimensions7 1/4" wide by 4 5/8" high (closed)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1936-587

DescriptionEnvelope-shaped letter case or pocketbook with scalloped flap. Case is made of red leather embroidered with metallic threads wrapped around a gold-colored core. The design is symmetrical, including abstracted flowers and undulating shapes. Under the flap is the embroidered date 1727. On the back of the pocketbook is the word TETVAN, for Tetuan, in North Morocco. The pocketbook is lined with thin green silk and has a brown leather insert, now loose, but originally stitched in place to create sections. The silk lining is worn to reveal that the embroidery is worked through a backing of English-language printed paper taken from a book or newspaper.
Label TextA relatively large number of similarly embroidered pocketbooks were inscribed with the city names "Constantinople" in Turkey and "Tetuan" in northern Morocco. The surviving examples date from the late seventeenth century to the third quarter of the eighteenth century. Perhaps the pocketbooks were souvenirs of travels, but were they actually embroidered in the locations written on them? The English diarist Samuel Pepys had a similar pocketbook embroidered with his name, "Saml Pepys Esq" and "Constantinople Anno 1687." Pepys was not in Constantinople that year, and we assume the wallet may have been a gift. The "Tetuan 1727" pocketbook is interlined with old English-language printed papers, suggesting that it was made in an English-speaking area or under the direction of a British merchant.
InscribedTETVAN
1727

Exhibition(s)