The nail polish tool on display is made of ivory and its base is covered with suede. It is believed to have belonged to the family of Vasily Petrovich Ivashev.

The aesthetic appearance and behavior were the main principles of 19th-century dandyism. The novel “Eugene Onegin” by Alexander Pushkin has the following verse,

During that period, both men and women placed great importance on their appearance. For example, the famous portrait of Alexander Pushkin by Orest Kiprensky depicts the poet’s well-groomed long nails. Ivan Panaev wrote the following in his “Literary Reminiscences”,

The importance of appearance can be traced as far as ancient Egypt. Beautiful well-groomed hands were a sign of eminence, which is evidenced by one of the excavated Egyptian mummies that had nails painted with henna. In 1964, a tomb was discovered in Egypt with the mummies of Pharaoh Nyuserre’s servants, who were called “the guardians and artisans of the pharaoh’s nails”. The first known manicure set dates to 3200 BC: tools made of cast gold were found in the royal tombs in Ur of the Chaldees in Southern Babylonia. There were beauticians even in ancient Greece. These professionals were approached by those who wanted to conceal imperfections with makeup or get a manicure or pedicure. Back then, small nail scissors were already in use.

In the 19th century in France, in addition to the usual devices for cleaning and polishing nails, a few more items were added to the manicure set, such as scissors of various sizes, toothpicks, nail polish and perfume bottles, cotton swabs, tweezers, mirrors, as well as sewing accessories and even hooks for clothes. Those sets might well have been the prototypes of modern travel manicure sets, which include things that might prove useful while on the road.