Purse Frame

With my class on learning how to do soapstone/pewter casting, I see the feasibility of doing a purse frame from pewter other than the size. I'm going to try to do a bit more research on whether or not purse frames from period were actually made of pewter or not. I've found bronze and brass at times, but I don't know that I've seen pewter. Go figure, more research.

Portable Antiques Scheme shows this purse frame that is similar to the one I'm wanting to reproduce, but it lists it as a copper alloy. Pewter, (from what I've gathered thus far) tho it has copper in it for hardening, is not considered a copper alloy. It's mostly (about 85-99%) tin with only a little copper. I obviously could be wrong, it's not really my area of expertise. There's a class on bronze casting (which is a copper alloy) at Vertigo this weekend that I was considering taking.



The general theme is that they were cast copper alloys. Copper Alloys are generally copper, brass and bronze. Looks like I either find someone who already makes them or learn how to cast a copper alloy purse frame. Fun fun fun!

Purse Frame

In many of the paintings I've viewed thus far, quite a few have had openings that were rigid circular frames. They didn't make a heck of a lot of sense to me, until I found the following link:

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/EventsExhibitions/Permanent/medieval/objects/record.htm?type=object&id=725936

I've also included the photo from the above site for easy reference:

According to the above link, fine velvet and fabrics were used to construct the actual pouch of the purse. Now, granted, the above picture is from a London find, but there are many German paintings having the same type of construction. Like in the following:

Triptych by Hans Memling (c1470) - Framed Purse Detail of kneeling man in center foreground

At any rate, I think I like how this one looks and if I can figure out how to make it or find someone who already makes them, I'd be rather happy. I've included another picture of the purse itself in use:

William Browne, 1489 engr. c. 1465, Stamford. Lincolnshire

I know thus far that for a female prior to the German Renaissance, it was more commonly worn between the undergown and the overgown, so it wouldn't have been readily seen by passerby.