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Micro Beaded Figural Lorelei

Description

Larger size, this likely started out as a reticule or drawstring. Along the way a jeweled frame was added. The interior was relined. Quite possibly the fringe was redone, although each fringe is twisted & entwined with its neighbors, with loops on the bottom - very skillfully done. This purse is steeped in folklore, and is known among collectors as "the Lorelei purse".

From Wikipedia: In 1801, German author Clemens Brentano composed his ballad Zu Bacharach am Rheine as part of a fragmentary continuation of his novel Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter. It first told the story of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lore Lay, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way thereto, accompanied by three knights, she comes to the Lorelei rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so and thinking that she sees her love in the Rhine, falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterwards.

Collection of Kathy Gunderson