Carpet Bag

Unknown artist

A Brussels (looped-pile) carpet bag, wool on linen Penelope canvas, with red, blue, green, and buff flowers on a dark brown backround. Tapestry extends to cover metal frame at opening. Bottom of bag is pasteboard covered in black tooled leatherette and has five brass feet. Bag interior is lined in beige linen or cotton and has a separate section, divided by a metal frame, lined with brown glazed cotton. Two short jute handles covered in black leather are sewn to front and back of bag. Bag has a lock with a curved brass escutcheon (key is missing). A tag looped to bag reads, "Benjamin Adny / 175 Parker Street." There is no one with this surname or any similar surname listed in the earliest (1868) Newton city directory. Very similar bags at Winterthur, the Smithsonian, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are dated to the 1860s and early 1870s.