Personal Accessory Case
1766 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
A 'nécessaire' was a luxury object designed to hold a whole range of 'necessary' scent bottles and cosmetic and writing implements for use by a woman of fashion. The contents include five bottles with stoppers, a pencil and an ivory writing tablet, scissors, a mirror, a comb, a brush, toothpicks, a tongue scraper, a bodkin combined with a spoon for ear wax, and a file combined with a pair of tweezers.
People
Hidden away inside the box, visible only if the fittings are taken out, are the signature and date 'J. Pratbernon / 1766'. He was probably John Pratbernon, described as a gold and silver worker living in Oxford Street in 1774 (Westminster Poll Book). .
Design & Designing
To judge this casket by the most fashionable standards, it comes at the end of the Rococo period, for by 1766 Neo-classical silver and luxury objects were coming into favour. The figure scenes in contemporary dress are in the French manner. Similar figures were modelled as English porcelain figures, and also painted in enamel on copper boxes.
A 'nécessaire' was a luxury object designed to hold a whole range of 'necessary' scent bottles and cosmetic and writing implements for use by a woman of fashion. The contents include five bottles with stoppers, a pencil and an ivory writing tablet, scissors, a mirror, a comb, a brush, toothpicks, a tongue scraper, a bodkin combined with a spoon for ear wax, and a file combined with a pair of tweezers.
People
Hidden away inside the box, visible only if the fittings are taken out, are the signature and date 'J. Pratbernon / 1766'. He was probably John Pratbernon, described as a gold and silver worker living in Oxford Street in 1774 (Westminster Poll Book). .
Design & Designing
To judge this casket by the most fashionable standards, it comes at the end of the Rococo period, for by 1766 Neo-classical silver and luxury objects were coming into favour. The figure scenes in contemporary dress are in the French manner. Similar figures were modelled as English porcelain figures, and also painted in enamel on copper boxes.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 21 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Agate, mounted in gold, with bottles mounted in gold, and implements in silver, ivory, mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell |
| Brief description | Case for personal equipment, known as a 'nécessaire' |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | British Galleries:
This type of elaborate personal accessory kit was inspired by the work of French goldsmiths of the late Rococo period. The use of hardstones was more typical of German work and the panels here may have been made by a German craftsman. The resultant box, however, is a distinctive London type.(27/03/2003) |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by John Jones |
| Object history | Signed on the inside of the base by J. Pratbernon, probably the box maker |
| Summary | Object Type A 'nécessaire' was a luxury object designed to hold a whole range of 'necessary' scent bottles and cosmetic and writing implements for use by a woman of fashion. The contents include five bottles with stoppers, a pencil and an ivory writing tablet, scissors, a mirror, a comb, a brush, toothpicks, a tongue scraper, a bodkin combined with a spoon for ear wax, and a file combined with a pair of tweezers. People Hidden away inside the box, visible only if the fittings are taken out, are the signature and date 'J. Pratbernon / 1766'. He was probably John Pratbernon, described as a gold and silver worker living in Oxford Street in 1774 (Westminster Poll Book). . Design & Designing To judge this casket by the most fashionable standards, it comes at the end of the Rococo period, for by 1766 Neo-classical silver and luxury objects were coming into favour. The figure scenes in contemporary dress are in the French manner. Similar figures were modelled as English porcelain figures, and also painted in enamel on copper boxes. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 961:1 to 21-1882 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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