Unidentified object from a toiletry set
karta katalogowa kolekcji
Rzemiosło artystyczne
Europe
19th-20th century
Mother-of-pearl, steel
4 x 1.5 x 0.7 cm
Wil.2436/4
Among the small combs, brushes and files in a toiletry set in the Wilanów collections there is an object in the shape of a metal loop on a straight handle. It does not resemble any of the toiletries used at the time, and was for long considered to be a device for buttoning shoes. Before the invention of the zipper and elastic rubber, many items of clothes were buttoned or had hooks and eyes. This was the way in which ladies’ shoes, corsets or gloves were worn during the second half of the nineteenth century. A special hook made it easier to insert a button through a tight hole. The described exhibit could have been used for this purpose, although its shape does not resemble typical button hooks universal at the time and preserved up to this day.
The loop on the handle might have been useful for pulling through underwear tapes or pinning flowers or ribbons in hair. Only a hundred years ago this was a common object, used perhaps on a daily basis. Today, we no longer know its purpose and it has been forgotten, sharing the fate of many other small appliances employed by our great grandmothers.
Anna Ekielska-Mardal
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