Toilet box
This dainty box, which separates into two hemispheres, may have been intended to hold so-called wash balls—potash mixed with various oils and scented with powdered herbs, roots, and flowers then kneaded into a paste and shaped into small balls of soap.
Artwork Details
- Title: Toilet box
- Date: late 15th or early 16th century
- Culture: Italian, Venice
- Medium: Painted enamel on copper, partly gilt, glass
- Dimensions: confirmed: 3 9/16 × 2 7/8 in. (9 × 7.2 cm)
- Classification: Enamels-Painted
- Credit Line: Bequest of Elizabeth Mongan, 2002
- Object Number: 2004.352
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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Italian
1540
British, Bilston
ca. 1820
Multiple artists/makers
December 1499
British, possibly South Staffordshire
ca.1780–90
Italian, Venice
ca. 1600
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