This proverb expresses the view that you can’t turn something which is inherently low-grade or ugly into something valuable or attractive.

This is one of the oldest proverbs in English.

The earliest record that I can find of it comes from a book by the English Tudor satirist Stephen Gosson, entitled Ephemerides of Phialo, 1579:

“Seeking… too make a silke purse of a sowes eare.”

Whether Gosson coined the proverb we can’t now know.

Many of the early 17th and 18th century references to the proverb refer to it as ‘old’ and ‘Scottish’. For example, the glossary of slang terms published in 1699 under the title of ‘A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew’. This is the entry for the word ‘luggs’ (that is, ears):

Luggs Ye can ne make a Silk-Purse of a Sowe’s Luggs, a Scotch Proverb.

In 1812, Sir Walter Scott wrote this in a letter:

I am labouring here to contradict an old proverb, and make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.