17th Century Bags and Purses
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of six seventeenth-century bags and purses dating from 1600 to 1700. All were collected by Sir William Burrell (1861–1958), including an internationally-significant embroidered and enamelled falconry pouch that was owned by James VI of Scots and I of England (1566–1625).
Different types of bags and purses were used for various purposes in the 1600s. The most common survivors of which there are two in the collection are small, square embroidered purses that had a variety of uses. Some were filled with scented dried flowers and herbs and hang from a belt or girdle tied around your waist or were stored with clothes. Others given as given as gifts, often containing coins or jewels. Larger square bags, known as burses, were used for ceremonial purposes, such as one that was used to hold the Great Seal of England. Falconry pouches, of which there are two in the collection, were functional and provided falconers with somewhere to store jessies, whistles and other small items of falconry equipment while out hunting.
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