Comacchio Bag

The bag is constructed after the almost complete find from an Augustean shipwreck on the coast of Italy, near Comacchio, and measures about 30 x 29 x 7 cm.
I chose veg-tanned sheep leather for the bag as the original is reported to have a leather thickness of 1mm only (the report does not specify what animal the leather is from). The teardrop-shaped applications were dyed with a vinegar/iron dust mixture, then treated with neatsfoot oil.

We don't know anything about the shoulder strap, as that piece is missing. All that remains, it seems, is part of how the strap was held in place at the side pieces. Unfortunately though, the description is rather brief and there is no drawing of it either. Because of that I decided to go with a simple strap, going in at the slits of the side pieces and fastend with a seam following the form of the remaining stitch marks.

• Berti, Fede. Fortuna maris. La nave romana di Comacchio. Bologna, 1990.