Advent 2020 – Day 2: 16th c Green Silk Knitted Bag

The Notentasche, bag for the notebooks, is knitted in green and black silk, and lined with red silk cloth. The black silk in the knitted design has unfortunately disintegrated over time, causing it to unravel in places, and leaving the design very hard to see.

However, on the right hand side of the bag, there are a few sections in better shape, showing a design of chains around an octogon, with figure 8s at the connections.

The design is similar to one found in Domenico da Sera’s 1532 book, “Libbretto nouellamete composto…”, and another design found in Zoppino’s 1532 book “Convivio delle belle Donne” but not identical.

The borders in cream, tan, gold and green silk have survived better, and the design is readable.

The gold cords and knots used to close the bag are in excellent condition, as is the tablet woven border at the edges of the bag.

This bag was used to store the famous embroidered singing part books, which I’ll share tomorrow.