Toilet casket
Unknown
1700–1715 · Wood veneered with brass, tortoiseshell, tinted horn and mother-of-pearl, rosewood contre partie Boulle work); gilt bronze and steel · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Known in French as a carré de toilette, this rectangular casket has canted corners and is richly decorated in so-called boulle marquetry of brass inlaid with tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, and tinted horn (contre partie). Containing ribbons, feathers, or other adornments, boxes like this played a role in the elaborate dressing ritual of the past and would have been placed on the dressing table. Similar caskets are depicted in Jean-Marc Nattier’s portrait Madame Marsollier and Her Daughter of 1749.
- Artist
- Unknown
- Date
- 1700–1715
- Medium
- Wood veneered with brass, tortoiseshell, tinted horn and mother-of-pearl, rosewood contre partie Boulle work); gilt bronze and steel
- Culture
- French
- Department
- European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
- Credit line
- Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Sid R. Bass Gift, in honor of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2011
