This purse, made of handspun cotton cloth in light blue, brown and indigo blue tones, is decorated with extremely fine embroidered motifs of swastikas along the top edge. Eight-pointed stars and Chinese characters in indigo thread are featured within the centre panel. Silk pompoms attached to strings of glass beads adorn the edges and the neck-strap appears to be made of finely woven silk. The purse was made by the Yao subgroup known as Kim Mun Lantien Sha from Laos and Mengla in Yunnan. It was used to keep money and other valuables. Both men and women wore these elaborate purses. The Yao have migrated over centuries from central China to the south, and into northern regions of Southeast Asia, where many sub groups now no longer practice nomadic lifestyles.
