Rare to find kiln-fired enamel etui or nécessaire like this one without any chips or serious cracks, let alone with many of the original tools, scissors, implements still in their fittings inside. Just in from France with a large shipment we're working through, I do not think it is 18th century as many of these would be, but not later than 1850. The tools remain, mostly vanity items but also sewing scissors and a needle case (missing lid, which might well be inside the etui), a button hook, bodkin, nail file, stiletto. The floral enamel work has been overpainted in gold powder enamels, creating a very beautiful little objet d'art! Full measurements noted on the photos.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type, kiln-fired enamels are typically and by their nature, fragile like porcelain and are in fact porcelain powders worked on a brass or copper matrix and kiln-fired in stages of decoration to melt into a glassine surface which does look like porcelain, and can shatter or crack or chip as such, too. As you can see from our photos, this one is quite unscathed by time with only slight evidence of use. Note the lid to needle case is missing, though sometimes if one removes the neck, a missing piece like that is found a bit sunken but inside. I should have reached in with tweezers to check. Hinge and clasp both in fine form, holds tightly and smoothly.
