ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Beyond texts and images: Beautifying artefacts as sites of knowledge

• In Event: Beauty matters. Contested arts, contested sciences in the premodern world

English Abstract

Taking an epistemic approach to artefacts, the paper examines how the material, formal, and technical properties of beautifying objects—vessels for scented waters, ornate cosmetic caskets, and grooming tools—open questions that textual and visual sources alone cannot resolve. By analysing how knowledge about the body and its care was formed, transmitted, and negotiated through material culture, the paper argues that cosmetics occupied a methodological and conceptual position that traversed medical, artisanal, and aesthetic domains. It shows that these objects not only facilitated bodily practices but also articulated culturally specific understandings of care, refinement, and expertise.
Starting with early modern toilet boxes as a distinct group, this paper examines how these sets of combs, mirrors, containers and small tools shaped hygiene and adornment practices. The materials and ornamentation of these caskets, which include ivory, bone, mother-of-pearl and precious metals, situated them at the intersection of artisanal skill, long-distance trade and courtly culture. The fact that they have been preserved in an often-untouched state points to a second life as prized artefacts, which complicates how we interpret them as evidence of bodily practices. The ambiguity between tool and showpiece is central to our understanding of the aesthetic and epistemic roles of beautifying artefacts in the premodern world.

Author

• Romana Sammern, University of Salzburg