Aumônière

Aumônière from France, dated c. 1340, 15.8 x 14.5 cm, made of linen with silk and gold thread embroidery. Aumônière from France, dated c. 1340, 15.8 x 14.5 cm, made of linen with silk and gold thread embroidery. Copyright Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany, acc. no. 1956.137.

An aumônière is a type of pastry, but it also a medieval term for a small purse or pouch, in English also called an alms or almoner purse or pouch. The term aumônière was generally used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The purses were often embroidered.

Several extant examples are housed in museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Cluny Museum in Paris, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, and the museum in Xanten, Germany.

There were various types of aumônières: rectangular examples with a drawstring, hanging down from a belt around the wasit, or trapezoidal types with a flap to cover the opening.

In late thirteenth century Paris, these embellished purses were apparently called aumônières sarrazinoises ('Saracen purses'), perhaps referring to the precious materials from the Middle East being used, or the origin of such purses. There may be a link with the time of the Crusades.

Sources:

  • 'Aumônières, otherwise known as alms purses: Embellished textile purses in the French 14th century,' in: La cotte simple. Late medieval fashion redressed, 23 March 2017. Download here.
  • 'Aumonieres and purses from Germany,' St. Thomas Guild's, 27th November 2013. Download here.

Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, online catalogue (retrieved 26nd March 2017).

WV

Last modified on Wednesday, 24 May 2017 11:25