Leather Cross-Body Purse

Object/Artifact

-

Archive of Cuban Socialism

Name/Title

Leather Cross-Body Purse

Entry/Object ID

2025.1.18

Description

SUMMARY: Small artisanal brown leather shoulder/cross-body purse with hand-tooled decorative bands, whip-stitched leather-thong edges, fringe ties, and a long thin leather strap; purchased at a Cuban artisan market after 1978. DESCRIPTION: A small, soft rectangular cross-body purse of medium-brown leather. The body is constructed from two front-to-back panels joined at the edges by a continuous whip-stitched leather thong lacing, which forms a decorative dotted/punched border around the entire outline. The front face carries the principal decoration: two horizontal bands of stamped/tooled geometric ornament running across the body, with smaller decorative bands and a small front pocket or applied panel finished with hanging cut-leather fringe ties. A long, thin leather strap is attached at the top corners for cross-body carry; the strap shows curl-set from long use. A few thin leather thong ends hang loose at the bottom corners, an intentional fringe element rather than damage. Surface tone is uneven, with handling patina and slight darkening from use.

Use

Used throughout the 1980s by María A Arús Caraballo

Collection

The Cabrera Arús family collection, María A. Arús Caraballo collection

Acquisition

Accession

2025.1

Notes

Belonged to María A. Arús Caraballo

Made/Created

Place

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Notes

early-1980's

Dimensions

Width

23.5 cm

Length

56.5 cm

Dimension Notes

23.5 (without handles)

Parts

1

Materials

Material

Leather

Material Notes

Hand-cut leather panels; whip-stitched leather-thong edge lacing; hand-tooled / stamped decorative bands (geometric punch- or wheel-tooling characteristic of artisanal leatherwork); attached leather strap and fringe ties

Condition

Overall Condition

Good

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

María A. Arús Caraballo

Notes

owner

Related Places

Place

City

Havana

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Notes

purchase

Exhibitions

Cuban Finotype and Its Materiality
Fashioning Cuban Socialism
Cuban Revolutionary Fashion: With objects from the Cuba Material collection

Research Notes

Notes

In 1978, the government legalized small-scale private craft production and sale. The artisan markets provided licensed venues for individual craftspeople (artesanos) to sell handmade goods, including leatherwork, jewelry, ceramics, basketry, and wood objects. By the mid-1980s the FCBC operated artisan-market venues in Havana (notably in the Plaza de la Catedral. Hand-tooled and laced leather purses of this design vocabulary are part of a broad Latin American craft idiom that draws on Spanish/Andalusian leather traditions and on indigenous leatherworking traditions across the Americas.

Created By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Create Date

March 31, 2022

Updated By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Update Date

June 14, 2026