Cleveland Museum of Art

Perfume Case (Etui flaconnier)

Date

c. 1780

Medium

painted wood with gilt metal mounts, tortoiseshell

Culture

France, 18th century

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Resting inside this case is a small octagonal crystal flask that would have held perfume. The painted miniatures are decorated with vernis martin, a popular varnish that imitated East Asian true lacquer. These scenes of rural merriment were often miniature reproductions of well-respected artists of the period. The depiction of three children and a dog on the lower portion of the case was drawn from Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s The Happy Family ( L’heureuse fécondité) (1777). Perfume was an important part of the French toilette , a lengthy ritual of washing and dressing practiced by members of the French social elite.

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