This study proposes to investigate nécessaires, produced in France between the years 1750 and 1810. Nécessaires (nécessaires de toilette, de voyage) were objects made to order which were produced by several artisans belonging to the various guilds of the Parisian market. This makes nécessaires products which illustrate how the corporations in Paris worked together to create precious and complex objects. As they were also sold by the marchand merciers, nécessaires offer use an example of the Parisian luxury market and the rise of consumption. Recent studies dedicated to nécessaires have placed emphasis on their luxury object status, without explaining their contents. They have not provided the context within which they were considered “necessary”. It is for this reason that I have decided to look at nécessaires in terms of their social context.

Just as nécessaires are organized in several compartments, the life of the eighteenth century French woman was organized and directed by the codes of society. This code directed her usage of time. Nécessaires include items used for beauty and for eating and drinking, and for pastimes. I would like to make the link between these objects and the daily life of the eighteenth century woman.

This project articulates around three major themes: beauty, hygiene and moral values. I have chosen three nécessaires from the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, whose contents illustrate these themes. To complement my object based case studies, I have referred to treatises on beauty, perfume and hygiene and writing on morals to provide an explanation for the need to have these complex sets.