Bag - Yorktown 1781

[Marcruger]

Hey gents,

The paintings here are from a Frenchman Jean Bastiste Antoine de Verger who painted the figures in 1781 at Yorktown. 

There is a bit of artistic license here, but a bit of detail also.   Note the riflemans' shirt/frock, hawk, horn and bag. 

Regarding the bag, it is very similar to a few I have made.  That said, what do y'all think about the bottom edge of the bag?  Is that "shadowing" effect, or does the bag have fringe?  You might say it doesn't have fringe, but then, look at his shirt.  Fringe. 

I don't have a definitive answer either way.  I am wondering what others' opinions are. 

That green riflemans' hat is a riot.  It may be correct, but looks appropriate on a lady at a fancy horse race.   I also noticed that someone stole his trigger guard.  Egads.  Who would steal that?   

On the artilleryman at right, is he wearing a belt bag in the front? 

Many thanks, and God Bless,   Marc

[Greg Pennell]

Marc, good question…even magnified it’s hard to tell what’s going on.  The medium, watercolor, is traditionally used to suggest details, rather than define them as in a pencil or pen and ink drawing. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say the artist was attempting to show the rounded contour of a full bag, rather than a fringe. He added more brush strokes to define the fringe on the hunting shirt.

But, it’s really anyone’s guess.

Greg

[BOB HILL]

For some reason many of the pictures posted are not showing up on my phone. This is one of them.
Bob

[Clark Badgett]

I will say it's hard to tell. However, the fringe of the shirt is hanging in a mostly downward direction while the details of the bag are curving around. Doesn't really say one way or other, but I would guess it's to show the bag bottom as being rounded, probably gusseted.

[T.C.Albert]

Artillery man has a belly box for quill primers?
Tim A