On eBay Now...EXTREMELY RARE LATE 18th CENTURY GERMAN MAKE-UP KIT FOR THE DEAD For Sale
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EXTREMELY RARE LATE 18th CENTURY GERMAN MAKE-UP KIT FOR THE DEAD :
$9500.00
EXTREMELY RARE LATE 18th CENTURY GERMAN MAKE-UP KIT FOR THE DEAD
After some consultation with a very helpful fellow er, I believe this traveling boxed set of German bottles from the late 18th century or early 19th century is actually a make-up kit for the deceased. I had originally believed this to be a traveling inkwell set.
My friend wrote me:
\"Hello, are there any ink stains in the box or on the velvet covering? (there are not). I have seen several similar but not as beautiful, but they were not travel inkwells but cases with inky pastes, usually red, yellow, and dark brown for cosmetically making up a dead aristocrat\'s face before he was put in the casket for final good bye viewing. Often the cosmetic case was kept by a priest.\"
This boxed set has all three original glass bottles with stoppers (all the glass paste bottles are in excellent condition with no chips or cracks with oneexception:one of the top\'s inside stopperhasone small chip) in a light blue velvet lined interior. I believe the box to be made of woodwhich has then been coveredwithred leather.Theoriginal red or reddish-orange of the leather has dulled to a light burgundy/brown color.
The intricacy of the design work is incredible. It features five cartouche sculptureswith three different charactershandcrafted in copper or bronze and set into the box with brass framing.One cartouche isin the top of the lid, two cartouches are in the frontof the boxand two are in the back of the box. There are German phrases in the banners that go around each figure. The only distinguishable phrase that I could see was \'Das Ist Dir\" - \"What is wrong?\" Another banner begins with the word \'Schon\' which means \'already\' but the rest of the banner is indistinguishable.
The box has a lock, but there is no key. The boxed paste kit measures 4 1/4\"high x 6 3/4\"wide x 3\" deep. The handle is original, but one side has become detached from the top. You will probably not see another one of these in your lifetime. This is an incredible work of art mixed with utilitarian purposefulness for making the dead look as presentable as possible for their final viewing.