Voguish Vinaigrettes

In a time before indoor plumbing, when streets where filled with mud and manure, the umbrage of malodorous molestation was softened a bit by an innovative little devise known as the vinaigrette.

Small ornamental boxes usually made in sterling silver, vinaigrettes were quite useful. Inside one contained a little sponge soaked in vinegar and aromatic salts or lavender water. We all know that lavender is an essential oil used to improve one’s mood and most effective in calming the nerves.

Over the sponge was a pierced grille holding it tightly into place. The grille had a variety of intricate patterns such as flowers or foliage and secured by a hinge. When the lid of the box was opened, the scent would escape through the perforations.

Some of the earliest known examples date from the fifteenth century. But the vinaigrette didn’t become popular until in the mid-eighteenth century, and all the rage by the nineteenth. Though some made from gold or porcelain, most were made from sterling silver with a gold gilt washed interior preventing the acids in the aromatics from discoloring the silver.

It was used by the ladies to ward off a fainting spell, or more often when any person with a bad smell approached. And let us not forget the horses relieving themselves in the streets. The user held it to her nose and would give a light *sniff*.

The vinaigrette evolved from a solely functional object to one which became a fashion statement. Women carried them in their pockets or in a small handbag. They and also attached them to chains around their necks, dangled them from bracelets, or hooked them to chatelaines worn on their waist.

At first, they were made in a just a few forms -- circular shapes, oval, polygonal, sometimes in the shape of a heart or a shell. But as time went on and the vinaigrette became a fashionable accessory, these designs were to impress. They were used regularly and on view in various social situations. More impressive designs were desired. It was at this time that vinaigrettes took whimsical forms such as a shoe, or a book, bells, beehives, helmets, little hand-bags, nuts, horns, flowers, barrels... Some even included engraved scenes of notable landmarks.

(above) Argentum Leopard Head in San Francisco was offering this English sterling silver vinaigrette with a gilt washed interior by Nathaniel Mills, date mark of 1847. Sold, as someone snatched this little beauty up.

An English vinaigrette by an unidentified maker and made in Birmingham (the majority of British ones were) with the date mark of 1837. Available at Nelson & Nelson Antiques in NYC.

For those book lovers, here is one in the form of a book by Taylor & Perry, 1810. Currently offered by an antique store in Chesterfield, Missouri called Britannia.

American vinaigrette in the form of a letter. From Cowan’s Auctions, Inc. circa 1891.

Pictured casually sitting in a Hans J. Wegner, Folding Chair, 1949 and an Aero Saarinen Tulip table with marble top and white base.