Purse

In the seventeenth century, needle lace and embroidery patterns were disseminated through pattern books such as The Needle's Excelency published by James Boler (1631). Many seventeenth-century embroidered purses have been collected and prized for the livelieness of their embroidery and tiny scale. They were particularly valued by Edwardian collectors, such as Lord Lever, who formed large collections of sixteenth- and seventeenth- century embroidery.