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I believe handkerchiefs existed as early as the 12th or 13th century, but not for nose-blowing. Hygiene being what is was, privileged fair damsels found their teeth often gone to rot by their early twenties and capable of generating a bit of a stench in close quarters. (Peasants, with their plainer, healthier diets, often kept good teeth much longer.)

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The handkerchiefs were drenched in scent and held before the mouth while conversing closely, to spare their admiring young studs from keeling over from the stink.

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Men's coat sleeve buttons, of course, came about as a direct 18th century reaction to Frederick the Great's guards wiping or blowing their noses on their uniform sleeves. Fred ordered buttons to be attached to thwart the wipers.