Elegant Vinaigrette Dressing

No, we are not talking about salad dressing here…
but if you Google the word vinaigrette that is mostly what you find. That's because today, vinaigrettes, the silver and gold kind, are mostly in private collections, and rarely exhibited or available for sale.

Fashionable in Europe from the late 18th to the mid 19th century, the vinaigrette is a small container that was designed to hold aromatic substances dissolved in vinegar. Various aromatic vinegars were inhaled to restore well-being when one was overcome with a variety of conditions including anxiety, fatigue, melancholy, or the odors produced by unsanitary conditions of the time. The first vinaigrettes were tiny silver boxes with a gold wash on the inside to keep it from tarnishing in reaction to its contents. A tiny sea sponge was saturated with the aromatic liquid, and hidden beneath a perforated cover. The aroma was inhaled when the hinged lid was raised.

EARLY 19TH CENTURY ENGLISH VINAIGRETTE WITH SEA SPONGE WICK

Later, artisans handcrafted these precious little boxes whose lids and intricate grills were elaborately personalized for their wealthiest patrons.

MID TO LATE 19TH CENTURY ENGLISH VINAIGRETTES

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