The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Vanity Set (Nécessaire)

Vanity Set (Nécessaire)

c. 1750–60

Did You Know?

This small box with a mirror-lined lid is a dressing table accessory that contains luxury objects such as a clasp knife, snuff spoon, tweezers, and scent bottles.

Description

Luxurious personal objects were an essential part of a privileged wardrobe during the 1700s and early 1800s, emphasizing their owner’s refinement and wealth. Jewelry, miniatures, and nécessaires—small expensive sets designed to hold grooming, writing, and sewing tools—were often given as intimate gifts, intended to be seen and admired. Their glittering surfaces, however, disguised a system based on the labor and suffering of enslaved or indentured people, whether in gold and stone mines or shops where these goods were made.
  • Duc de Brissac, Paris
    -2009
    Howard F. Stirn [1923-2016], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2009-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • null
  • British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
  • {{cite web|title=Vanity Set (Nécessaire)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1750–60|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2009.70