The Usage of Toilet Boxes: A Global Habit

Toilet boxes that have been preserved in museums and galleries are not the only evidence we have of these morning rituals. We can grasp the importance of the 18th century morning toilette if we look at the paintings of that period too. Vanity objects such as toilet boxes were often depicted, thereby highlighting their cultural and material significance for the high-class society of that particular period (figs. 10-11).

Interestingly, toilet boxes and the intimate culture of vanity were not limited to the European context alone. For example, finely crafted cosmetic boxes dating back to 2000 BC have been found in Egypt (fig. 12). It seems that these boxes were linked to personal care and that they were considered a display of social rank for the elitesSee Aldin, Jane, (2013). “Vanities: art of the dressing table”. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.. Toilet boxes have been used in Korea during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897) as markers of self-grooming and nobility (fig. 13). In China, paintings from the Qing Dynasty (fig. 14) suggest a similar habit, as courtly women were often depicted in their dressing rooms while keeping lacquered toilet boxes as part of sets of other luxury objects.See Choi, Irene, (2020) “Tactile Vision in Eighteenth-Century Korean Still-Life, or Ch’aekkŏri,” Journal18 Issue 9 Field Notes.

Toilet boxes were far more than simple containers for hygiene and grooming products. They were essential elements in the “display of intimacy”, tied to a noble expression of femininity and interpersonal bonding of the ruling class, containing stories of duality: something made to show off but kept in one of the most supposedly private environments. Beyond their practical use, lacquered toilet boxes were nuanced with class and gender expression globally, and in the case of Europe, with an intellectual and material appeal for the exotic.