SCARCE EARLY 20TH CENTURY FRENCH ART DECO VINTAGE BEADED GLASS, TWISTED CORD, DRAWSTRING HANDLED BAG, with OWL ICONOGRAPHY & HANGING LOOPED BEADED FRINGE in YELLOW OCHRE, OLIVE GREEN, DEEP CERULEAN BLUE, LIGHT SEPIA BROWN & CHARCOAL BLACK
[Worn by the ubiquitous, scantily clad 'Flapper Girls' of Paris, France]
(Circa 1918-1928)
Early 20th century French Art Deco vintage beaded glass cocktail purses and decorative handbags
worn by the Flapper Girls of that epoch
DIMENSIONS:
11" full Height including strings
8" Height (including lacey fringe but not including the relaxing hanging beaded loops) 6 1⁄2" Height (without fringes) 5 1⁄2" Width
Weight: 4.4 oz.
DESCRIPTION:
A simply gorgeous and miraculously complete, 100% intact, extremely well-preserved, early 20th century French Art Deco vintage glass beaded purse, with lacey black dyed upper fringe and fine wool fabric, interior sleeve/liner. This delightful bag would have been held and showcased by one of the unenrolled, unsubscribed members of the forward-thinking vanguard of women's fashion at that time, the Parisienne 'Flapper Girl,' with her tight-fitting and hip-hugging long, erotic sleeveless cocktail dresses, that often showed far too much leg for clearly more conservative London or New York City urban tastes at the time. This incredible, handmade glass beaded cocktail hand purse, features a fringe of brightly colored beaded loops, hanging down from the outer edges of the bag, as if to suggest the lower body plumage of the owl represented by the graphic iconography bead work on both the facia and verso of the handbag. The beads chosen are yellow ochre, charcoal black, olive, light sepia brown and cerulean blue, with the face of an owl clearly envisioned on its front and back. There's a million reasons, some of which no doubt involve alcohol, as to why this vintage beaded glass French Art Deco cocktail, drawstring purse, shouldn't be in the wonderfully well-preserved overall vintage condition, it still remains in now. Over one-hundred years old and counting. The young woman who once wore it and no doubt attracted looks from passersby close by and from afar, is now long, long gone. But her keen choice of handbags when she slipped into a cafe or lounge in the roaring 1920's of urban Paris, is still here to remind us of her life and the truckloads of unmitigated fun, she no doubt had. An extraordinary relic from an extraordinary epoch, when life it seemed was lived to its fullest and not fretted about. What's hanging off of your forearm when you step out tonight, hopefully with some kind of respiratory contraption planted on your face, like some kind of modern-day fibrous tarantula? Clearly there was a somewhat easier time than this and one that will no doubt, surely come after. A vintage artifact of joy, revelry and joie de vivre. Bet you could use a little right about now. I know I could.
CONDITION:
Good to Very Good overall vintage condition. The glass cut beads are still intact and original to the purse, except for one looped piece of hanging fringe. The bottom center loop fringe had been at some previously point in time, likely replaced. A few pieces of the replacement beads have rounded edges and are just slightly different in color. This is barely noticeable but only upon very close inspection is this even seen, which doesn't distract from the overall beauty of the period, vintage French Art Deco glass beaded purse. The opening shows some wear and fraying, with only very minimal fiber loss. An old hand stitched reinforcement repair on the opening lacey, top fringe of the pouch, was apparently executed to prevent a pull or tear in the lace from traveling downward or getting any bigger.