ASSOCIATION OF SMALL COLLECTORS OF ANTIQUE SILVERASCAS
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We often read about overwrought ladies reaching for their vinaigrettes, or of
stalwart heroes reviving a swooning damsel by waving a vinaigrette beneath her nose. Hackneyed as these scenes may sound, they ring quite true in an historical context. Vinaigrettes, popular from the late 18th century through the mid-19th century, were small containers used for holding various aromatic substances, usually dissolved in vinegar. A tiny piece of sponge, soaked in the liquid, was contained beneath a grill or perforated cover. |
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a collection of English sterling vinaigrettes 1790-1835 |
One of the ancestors of the vinaigrette was the pomander, which can be traced back at least as far as the Middle Ages. Pomanders were generally gold or silver, often studded with jewels, and were pierced to allow the fragrance of the costly solid perfume or aromatic inside to be dispersed. Unlike liquid perfumes that were often valued for their erotic qualities, the substances contained inside pomanders were valued more for their medicinal and protective powers against plague and other diseases. Pomanders were generally spherical, often in the shape of fruit, and were most often worn suspended from a chain, as a piece of jewelry.
In those days of rampant disease, an orange was often considered a safeguard against infection. Its skin was saved and wrapped around a vinegar-soaked sponge and carried in the hand. Henry VIII's advisor, Cardinal Wolsey, is said to have been in the habit of carrying such an orange. At the Tudor court, however, the aromatic orange was supplanted in popularity by the pouncet box, the more direct ancestor of the vinaigrette. Particularly favored by the King himself, the pouncet box was a flattened sphere of gold or gilded silver with a pierced lid. Inside was a sponge soaked in aromatic vinegar. It was usually hung from the waist with a silk cord or gold chain. During the reign of Elizabeth I, the elegant use of the pouncet box, to inhale its sharp fragrance, became as ritualized a social grace as the taking of snuff some centuries later.
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Grill pierced in crude lozenge design. Joseph Willmore, Birmingham, 1809. Shown closed, open to grill, and grill opened to show sponge |
The intensity of the aromatics resulted in a drastic reduction in the size of the containers which held them, now called aromatic vinegar boxes. The term vinaigrette came into general use during the 1780s.
The vinaigrette was used by both men and women at this time, though by the 1820s it was almost exclusively a feminine accessory. Carried in a pocket or reticule, or suspended from a chatelaine at the waist, it was used to mask unsanitary odors and for direct inhalation of its restorative vapors.
Since one never knew when emotion or tight lacing would overcome one, the vinaigrette needed to be near at hand and its aromatics quickly accessible. The hinged lid allowed it to be flipped open, like a snuff box, with the flick of a finger.
Top: Large sterling vinaigrette with bright-cut diaper pattern on
lid and base, and a central medallion on lid monogrammed "MAW". Engraved and pierced grill
echoes exterior diaper design. Thomas Phipps & Edward Robinson, London, 1801. |
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The sterling interiors were gilded to prevent discoloration from the acetic acid, which did not affect gold.
Though most vinaigrettes were alike in construction, the silversmiths used all their decorative skill to set one apart from the other. When one considers the minute dimensions of the vinaigrette, those skills are impressive indeed.
There were simple, elegant, plain exteriors. Others had chased, engraved, engine-turned, or applied cast decoration. A great many of them were monogrammed (see Figure 5), sometimes with the initials of both the giver and recipient in a presentation inscription. The lids were sometimes decorated to commemorate important events, eg the death of Lord Nelson in 1805.
By the 1830s it had become fashionable to depict specific houses or churches or other famous structures on the lid through engraving or press-embossing.
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Top: Sterling vinaigrette in plain, undecorated case. Grill
punched with floral design. Thomas Willmore, Birmingham, 1801. |
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Center: Sterling vinaigrette in the shape of a wallet, with chased floral border on sides, and bright-cut decoration on lid and reverse. Grill pierced and engraved with a basket of flowers. Joseph Taylor, Birmingham, 1818. Right: Sterling vinaigrette in the shape of a wallet, with bright-cut decoration in imitation of animal skin. Grill pierced and engraved with floral design. John Shaw, Birmingham, 1818. |
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John Shaw, Birmingham, 1812 |
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Top left: Sterling vinaigrette with bright-cut basketweave pattern surrounding empty
monogram square on lid, simple floral design on reverse. Grill punched in simple
geometric pattern. John Bettridge, Birmingham, 1794. |
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Top left: Sterling vinaigrette with plain case decorated only with a tiny
bright-cut border. Grill punched and engraved in a tussy-mussy design. John Shaw,
Birmingham, 1816 |
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Top: Sterling vinaigrette with bright-cut floral decoration on lid and base.
Grill is punched and tooled to simulate wirework. Joseph Willmore, Birmingham, 1824. |
Vinaigrettes reached their peak of popularity during the Regency, and often became incorporated into other objects, like scent bottles, snuff boxes, and jewelry.
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Inset vinaigrette with lid of woven hair under glass, and grill pierced and engraved in starburst design. |
Rock crystal lid and lattice grill. |