This type of purse, also known as ‘Aleppo purses’ were woven in workshops in Zouk Mikael in Mount Lebanon, a town north of Beirut. It was probably made around 1860-1880, during which time Mount Lebanon was under Ottoman rule. The bag is woven in coloured silks in tapestry, the front and back feature a tulip and leaf motif with other small flower heads, they would have been woven one above the other on the same warp threads on a horizontal loom called a nawl. The bag would have been sent to Aleppo or Istanbul for finishing, in this case with silk plaited handles and three silk tassels, pale sky-blue silk lining with flap at top closed by silk covered button. The bag was acquired by the Gallery at Auction, along with other bags once belonging to May Morris.
