COLLECTOR STORIES
The City of Paris Coat of Arms Game Purse
J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
A special relationship
To celebrate a privileged relationship between the J.Paul Getty Museum and our gallery, The Kraemer familiy gifted the Los Angeles Museum this 18th century game purse, embroidered in silk velvet and silver threads, bearing the coat of arms of the City of Paris.
A royal tradition
It was customary for the kings of France to offer the purse to their acquaintances, often on january 1st.
These precious purses, adorned with their owner’s coat of arms, were sometimes filled with tokens or coins and used for games of chance.
Game purses were also given by the king or his entourage on special occasions, such as a wedding.
Numerous anecdotes have sufaced about these game purses, as they reflect the lifestyles of the aristocracy of that era.
Thus, Marie Leczinska, Princess of Poland, Queen of France and Navarre, owned game purses bearing the coat of arms of France and Poland.
She devoted much of her time to playing, particularly at cavagnole, and had even accumulated some gambling debts that were settled by her father Stanislas and occasionally by Louis XV himself.
Game Purse, J.Paul Getty Museum, offered by Kraemer
Set of game purses,Château de Versailles.
Evening / Lady of Quality playing Cards
Anonymous, Engraver
Mariette, Jean, Publisher
17th-18th century
Musée Carnavalet, History of Paris
