Soap and sponge boxes

Marked by C. Louis Gérard

Not on view

Matching spherical boxes such as this pair were often made to accompany a silver shaving basin—an oval bowl with a broad notched rim that allowed the basin to be pressed against a gentleman’s neck while he was being shaved. The decorative piercing on the sponge box had a practical purpose: it allowed air to circulate to dry the damp sponge. The unpierced box accommodated a piece of soap, which, in the eighteenth century, was purchased in a ball rather than a bar.

Soap and sponge boxes, Marked by C. Louis Gérard (1697–1759, master 1716), Silver, French, Douai (Lille Mint)

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