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| Selection of enamel boxes, probably Birmingham, Bilston or Wednesbury, c. 1760-85. Sold at Sotheby's in a lot of 15 for £15,000. |
Eighteenth-century enamellers produced an array of novel containers for eager consumers, including edibles such as apples, pears, lemons, gherkins, eggs and nutmegs. Many of the larger boxes were bonbonnières for holding sweets, often used to enhance the breath, the smaller boxes might hold perfume or, especially those shaped like nutmegs, be nutmeg graters. Nutmeg was a common addition to drinks over the century, thought to aid digestion and also sweeten the breath. Nutmeg graters would include a space to carry a whole nutmeg and a small metal rasp inside, so that nutmeg could be grated into drinks at will such as cider and punch (a treatise on 'cyder-making' from 1753 is here).*
The eighteenth-century saw new varieties of apples being developed and discovered (sometimes discovered in plain site in gardens), and old varieties grown and eaten that we no longer cultivate. Many areas also had local apples and the same variety of apple could also have different local names. Elite gardeners often collected trees from different varieties rather than concentrating on one sort as with modern commercial orchards, which would help maintain multiple varieties, and several books were published to aid these growers (example below).
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| Apple and pear bonbonnières, c. 1760-1785. Sold at Sotheby's in a lot of nine for £10,625. |
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| List of apples from The Gardeners and Florists Dictionary (1724). |
Lemons were a luxury import but a common addition to eighteenth-century recipes for those who could afford them.
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| Lemon bonbonnière, c. 1760-1785. Sold at Sotheby's in a lot of eighteen for £9,375. |
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| Recipe from English Housewifry [sic] (1764). |
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| Cornucopia of fruits from The Gardeners and Florists Dictionary. |
Notes
© Jen Dixon 2021. All text belongs to the author (jenni.a.dixon@gmail.com).
- Philip Miller, The Gardeners and Florists Dictionary (London: Charles Rivington, 1724), II.
- Elizabeth Moxon, English Housewifry [sic] (Leeds: Griffith Wright, 1764).
- Hugh Stafford, A Treatise on Cyder-Making (London: E. Cave, 1753).
* My paper on nutmeg graters and their social uses is published shortly, contact for details.