1750 ca. Spanish colonial ‘escritorio’, or writing desk, Columbia. Bone and mother of pearl inlay, hand etched sgraffito and original hand forged iron hinges. Interior has checkerboard drop front and ten compartments, each with original 18th century drawer pulls. Facade over-layed in mother of pearl with hand etched city-scapes, cathedrals, geometric patterns and foliate motifs. Interior has hand carved and gilt wood columns. Via Live Auctions ~ liveauctioneers.com
1800s French Palais Royal Sewing Box and Twelve Mother of Pearl Enamel Tools. This is the style of sewing box Jane Austen and her family would have used in the early 1800s, or Regency years. via via suzilove.com and 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
Definition: Palais Royal: Name of an area around the Royal Palace in Paris, France, that specialized in making small and exquisite works of art during the 18th and 19th centuries. Palais Royal sewing tools were elaborate and usually feature mother-of-pearl, often intricately carved or engraved. During the 19th century, workboxes were often works of art with engravings, carvings, mother-of-pearl, and elaborate gilt metal mounts. Most popular were scissors with steel blades and gilt mounts, thimbles and needle cases which were often shaped like animals or other natural forms. Workmanship was exceptional and the tools almost too fragile to use.
19th Century Inkstand, English. Ormolu and tortoiseshell. The type of inkstand that households would have in Bridgerton’s and Jane Austen’s times for writing letters and keeping track of estate matters. Curved, recessed top, two square inkwells of faceted cut glass with round necks and ormolu lids. via 1st Dibs Auctions ~ 1stdibs.com
1810 Sarcophagus Shaped Inkstand, British. Inkstand is made in the shape of a sarcophagus. Ink pots and a tray for the quill. In Jane Austen’s time, young gentlemen went on their “Grand Tour’ to gain education and experience and they sent, or brought back, unique and decorative items to represent their travels. Often, these decorative items were copied by British manufacturers to sell for the home market. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. mfa.org
1820 ca. Collection of Reticules, or Purses. Silk silver gauze, netting, fine crochet. Bags have drawstrings, chains and tassels. via Ruby Lane Auctions. #RegencyFashion #JaneAusten #British
Definition Of A Reticule; Bag or purse, often with a drawstring to pull closed and usually made of cloth or covered cardboard and often decorated with beading or embroidery. A reticule, or purse, or handbag, was usually carried by a woman during the Regency period to carry all their daily necessities. Earlier, women used pockets that tied at the waistline and were hidden in the folds of their skirts. Empire style, or early 1800s, high-waisted dresses made it impossible to either sewn in a pocket or to tie on a pocket, so women began carrying small, decorated bags called Reticules, or ridicules, which generally pulled close at the top with a drawstring. These Reticules, or bags, were the forerunners of our modern day purses.
19th Century Inkwell and Tomb of the Scipios Grand Tour Souvenir, Italian. The type of Grand Tour souvenir collected by travelers in Jane Austen and Bridgerton Times.
Siena marble with ink wells and pen holder. Lid removes to reveal pair of ink wells and pen holder. Scipios were a family of Roman war heroes and generals. Tomb of Scipios erected around 150 B.C.E and copied many times. 18th-19th Centuries, tomb models were favorites of Grand Tour souvenir hunters. The sort of exotic item a gentleman in Jane Austen’s times might send back to England during his Grand Tour of Europe and Asia. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
1830 ca. Rosewood and Inlaid Brass Inkstand, England. Each side has cut-glass inkwells with brass inlaid tops and pen trays, so ideal for a partners desk. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
18th Century Snuff Boxes. Not only were boxes made to serve a purpose, but decorative boxes of all types were prized, especially in the 18th Century when everything decorative and extravagant was in vogue and taking a pinch of snuff was fashionable. Snuff is made from ground or pulverized tobacco leaves and is sniffed from a pinch of snuff placed on the back of the hand. Flavorings were added to the tobacco to give a fast hit of nicotine and a lasting scent. Snuff began in the Americas and was used in Europe by the 17th Century.
Snuff became popular from the mid 1600s to the mid 1800s and was more popular than smoking. Inhaling snuff, or snuffing, was first seen by a European missionary in 1493 in Christopher Columbus’s new world within Haiti’s indigenous Taino. Until then, tobacco had been unknown to Europeans, but its use spread quickly throughout Europe during the 1500s. By the second half of the 17th century, ornate boxes started being produced to keep the precious powder dry and an entire industry making accessories blossomed around the fashion of taking snuff. Noblemen, and some women, carried extravagantly decorated snuff boxes with them at all times and would offer a pinch of their own particular blend to friends and family. Therefore, these boxes were always on display and so it became a competition to see who could have the most bejeweled or expensive box possible. books2read.com/suziloveFashMen1700
1800s French Palais Royal Sewing Box and Twelve Mother of Pearl Enamel Tools. This is the style of sewing box Jane Austen and her family would have used in the early 1800s, or Regency years. via via suzilove.com and 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
Definition: Palais Royal: Name of an area around the Royal Palace in Paris, France, that specialized in making small and exquisite works of art during the 18th and 19th centuries. Palais Royal sewing tools were elaborate and usually feature mother-of-pearl, often intricately carved or engraved. During the 19th century, workboxes were often works of art with engravings, carvings, mother-of-pearl, and elaborate gilt metal mounts. Most popular were scissors with steel blades and gilt mounts, thimbles and needle cases which were often shaped like animals or other natural forms. Workmanship was exceptional and the tools almost too fragile to use.
1820 ca. Writing Box, English. Rosewood and brass inlaid writing box by William Dobson, The Strand, London. Makers label, gilded candle holders, ink wells. via antiques-atlas.com. Portable boxes for writing materials existed for many centuries but in the last decades of the 18th century socio-economic circumstances in England necessitated the wide use of a portable desk in the form of a box which could be used on a table or on one’s lap. Hence “Lap Desk”.
