An extraordinary letter case or wallet, elaborately hand-embroidered in multi-colored silk thread over yellow-gold silk across all four panels, including extensive flowering vines on all sections and within, a four-columned temple with a fountain or flame and on the opposite panel, an embroidered calligraphic poem, signed "WM / 1800": 

"Es blühe unter Deinen Tritten,
Ein Fruhlingsanger schön und licht,
Wo blaue Blümchen für mich bitten:
Vergiss mein nicht!"

["May it bloom beneath your feet,
A spring song sweet and light,
Where blue flowers pray for me:
Don't forget me!"]

Most probably German.  Small stain to one panel, else mostly very minor scattered staining and in a very fine state of preservation. 5.25 x 8.25 inches; 13.5 x 21 cm. 

The Museum of Bags Amsterdam states: “From the 17th century, letter cases were used for keeping valued (love) letters, securities and bills of exchange. These letter cases showed great variation: materials such as leather, silk, glass beads and straw were used and many were embroidered with silk or metal thread and decorated with petals and foil. Letter cases were often presented as gifts at engagements and weddings or as keepsakes. The imagery and patterns on letter cases often referred to love and constancy: cupids, flaming hearts, Venus – the goddess of love – and anchors.” 

The imagery and the poem here, with its blue flowers under foot praying for the speaker, suggest possibly that the case may have been embroidered by a woman (WM) who was aware of her own imminent mortality and who prepared this elaborate item for a loved one before her own passing. The column imagery, representing the strength of life, as it points towards the heavens, was at the time (next to the image of a weeping woman) one of the most prominent symbols in a memorial / sentimental scene.