"This elegant box, with its luxurious equipment for the 'toilette', which prepared a fashionable French woman for the day, was both useful and a highly luxurious sign of status and wealth. The box, with its gilded ornament in the Chinoiserie style, imitated Asian lacquer, which had been sought-after in France from the late 17th century. It is lined with blue silk, the lid fitted with a mirror, and the bottles (for cosmetics) have tops of silver. These match the small silver tray, beaker and funnel, which would have been used by its owner to take a breakfast refreshment during the arduous task of having her hair dressed in an elaborate fashion and careful make-up applied. Friends and intimates often attended the ceremony of the 'toilette', entertaining the main player with gossip, while her maid attended to her appearance. The main silver pieces are engraved with a coat of arms within a lozenge (a diamond-shape). This shape indicates that the arms are those of an unmarried woman or a widow. Several families had arms close to those depicted and the original owner has not yet been securely identified."@en . . . .