Vanity Set (Nécessaire)
Unknown Artist
c. 1750–60
Medium
gold, agate, interior fitted with gold-mounted implements, mirror
Classification
Miscellaneous
Department
Decorative Art and Design
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Howard F. Stirn
Accession Number
2009.70
About this artwork
Luxurious personal objects were an essential part of a privileged wardrobe during the 1700s and early 1800s, emphasizing their owner’s refinement and wealth. Jewelry, miniatures, and nécessaires—small expensive sets designed to hold grooming, writing, and sewing tools—were often given as intimate gifts, intended to be seen and admired. Their glittering surfaces, however, disguised a system based on the labor and suffering of enslaved or indentured people, whether in gold and stone mines or shops...