Description:
Embroidered burse bag known as a Lord Chancellor's Burse used to hold the Great Seal of office, which has the initials "GR" and the inscription "Honi soit qui mal y pense" in the center around what is now a plain velvet panel but what would have been an English Royal Coat of Arms. The panel and motto are encircled by raised work using gold and silver threads and seed pearls on crimson velvet including a crown, unicorn and lion framing the center panel, angels, and eight cherub heads around the border, and four large tassels. The Chancellor's purse was used as the symbol of the office of the Lord Chancellor, the Keeper of the Great Seal of England; the Great Seal is considered of the greatest importance as it is attached to all major documents of state. The use of a special purse or burse to hold the Great Seal can be traced as far back to the reign of Edward II (1284-1327); it was traditionally carried in procession before the Lord Chancellor in a burse or purse, originally made of white leather or linen. By the end of the 16th century, the burse was transformed into a magnificent velvet purse, embroidered with the arms of England and elaborately decorated. An invoice from Roger Nelham, maker of the purse in 1652, included the following description "embroidering the rich purse for the Greate Seale of England with best double refined gold and silver upon a rich velvet, ingraine with the arms of the Commonwealth of England at large." These purses were replaced annually until 1822, and It was part of the ‘perquisite' or ‘perk' of office that the Lord Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal was allowed to keep the old seal with its accompanying purse. Sir Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley (1540-1617), was appointed Lord Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal from 1596 to 1617; he gave a purse to his servant Henry Jones, whose family transformed it into a cushion cover. It is mentioned in the 1682 will of Henry's widow, Elizabeth, as 'a cushion of velvet embroidered with gold which was a seal purse." Lady Margaret Hardwicke (d.1761), the wife of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke (1690-1764) who was the longest serving Chancellor of the 18th century from 1737-1756, used the replaced burses to make curtains for the State Bed in their country estate, Wimpole Hall.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Silk Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+64.364 |
