Eighteenth Century Lacquer Patch Box

Make-up box, or patchbox. Rectangular in shape, it is made of Chinese lacquer panel, very fashionable at that time. Cabinetmakers bring back panels to make luxurious furniture. Small objects are more rare. It opens with a hinge on three small compartments, two covered and one to place the brush. The lid is dark with a mirror. The "coral" colored lacquer presents decorations of animals and pagodas. The setting and the pusher are in gold. Two gold lozenges adorn the small internal lids, in tortoiseshell. The small paintbrush is also tortoiseshell. The flies were black dots in gummed taffeta or velvet which the women applied to their faces, to enhance the whiteness of their complexion and give piquancy to their physiognomy. Among the Persians and among the Arabs, black spots on the skin are considered beauty; these peoples were among the first to wear flies. If the use of flies is already known in the 17th century in France, it is in the 18th century however that they will become the symbols of adornment and femininity. Under Louis XV, their use changed and it was coquetry that was in order. Depending on where on the face it is placed, the meaning changes, it's the language of flies: The passionate woman was at the corner of her eye; the majestic, almost in the middle of the forehead; the playful, on the edge of the dimple that the cheek forms when she laughs; galante, in the middle of the cheek; the fucker, at the corner of the mouth; the gaillarde, on the nose; the coquette on the lips; the discreet, below the lower lip, and the concealer, on a button. This fashion will disappear at the end of the 18th century. Dimensions: 6.2cm X 5cm X 2.8cm