These are 18th century Delftware barber’s bowls. From a simple oval or circular utilitarian metal form, barber’s bowls in Delftware developed throughout the eighteenth century into elegant rococo shapes, of which these bowls are beautiful examples.
Well to do customers had their own bowl at the barbershop. Some of these even had pierced holes for hanging until it needed to be used.
Other than often assumed, the round or oval depression at the side of a barber’s bowl was not intended to house a piece of soap but rather a shaving ball. The barber would have asked his customer to put this small wooden ball in his mouth between his cheek and gum while foaming him up and shaving him, in order to get a closer shave. The semi-circular cutout on the side of the bowler also made the bowl fit the throat of the customer, which helped the men not get the shaving foam on their clothes.
From the middle ages onward the barber did not only shave your beard. Since he made both his knives to shave beards, and axes, sharp surgeon knives, scissors and the pliers to pull teeth, the barber’s field of activity included that of a surgeon - a kind of combination of a dentist and physician. Pulling molars and blood-letting were the most common treatments. Someone who did all of this was called the ‘barber surgeon’.
Негізгі бет Shaving in the 18th century
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