Guilloché "Aide Memoir" (Notebook)
(18th and 19th Centuries )
The front of this "aide memoir" or notebook (really a case in the form of a book) shows an oval portrait of a woman with powdered hair. On the back are initials set over woven hair (unpowdered). The letters are hard to make out, but probably read JMBA. On both sides of the "book" varied mechanically produced lines create a starburst effect under transparent green enamel (a technique called "guilloché"). Even the pencil-holder that comes with this case, and acts to fasten it, is engine turned in this fashion. Notes could be made on the ivory tablet inside.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Acquired by Henry Walters, Baltimore; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
Geographies
France (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 4 x W: 3 1/16 in. (10.2 x 7.7 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
57.857