D'Amitie, Antique French Sewing Tools Necessaire, MOP - Mother of Pearl inlaid Gold, c. 1770-1820

Still retaining the original sewing and traveler's tools within, this Napoleonic era French 'necessaire' or traveler's necessary items kit must hold even more - imagine what stories it could tell us if the conversations to which it's been privy could be extracted from its molecules. Ah, so interesting, after all these were purchased from the boutiques of the Palais Royal in Napoleon's time and shortly beyond, and by the nature of the purveyors' shops, location and the clientele served there, we can assume it was owned by someone whose conversations and life must have been very interesting indeed. By the time this style was made and sold, Marie-Antoinette was about to lose her head, partly for the elitist's idea that widely separated people who could own something like this object d'virtue, and those French citizens whose daily lives were marked by meager means and, quite literally, hunger. One wonders what clandestine (or otherwise) meetings might have been once noted on those thin wafer leaves of the notepad, and in whose hand or pocket/purse this little necessaire traveled, and where. Pieces of the past!

Good to very good, age and type considered. The mother of pearl necessaire would have been a stunning and brilliantly shimmering delight in its origin, with gold and silver foils pressed into the incised surface decorations, some of which are (as is normal with these) lost to the ages). There is evidence of a crack on one panel of mother of pearl, and we've pointed it out in our photos. Also the application of an 18k gold lip on the opening point, top, which I believe is a later addition, is partially lost (also pointed out in our images). This one is not perfect, yet it's in standard with those on display today in the 'Musee des Beaux Arts', open in one wing of the Louvre. A lovely piece of a most interesting and oft-revisited period in history, memorialized in many books and movies. Your piece of history - right here.

Item ID: 110mopetui

$1,295 USD

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