Hannah Glasse on pearls

You may have noticed that I have mentioned Hanna Glasse and her book The Art of Cooking. It was first published in 1747 and became hugely popular with several re-prints. What is interesting for this blog is that she didn’t just talk about food, but also included several cosmetic ones. What is even more interesting is that she was a middle class woman who wrote a practical book- a book much more likely to be read by a cook than a lady. So in all probability her recipes were for the kind of cosmetics that could be used even for women who didn’t belong to the upper crust of society.

"Die Magd in der Küche" by Justus Juncker, 1767

Mrs. Glasse mentions pearl powder three times in her book, two that are decidedly cosmetic and one that seems a bit more ambiguous, namely with the tantalizing name of Sugar of Pearl:

To make sugar of pearl.

TAKE damask rose water half a pint, one pound of fine sugar, half an ounce of prepared pearl beat to powder, eight leaves of beaten gold; boil them together according to art;  add the pearl and gold leaves when just done, then cast them on a marble,

If you boil water and sugar you get candy, so I wonder if this isn’t some kind of rose-scented hard candy, but why then add pearl and gold? Perhaps is meant to be crushed again and used to decorate desserts. The other two recipes are quite straightforward and also quite simple.

Nun's Cream.

ONE ounce of pearl-powder, twenty drops of oil of Rhodium, and two ounces of fine pomatum; mix all well together.

  

I suspect that this name had more naughty overtones than what we modern people might think- a nun could be used to describe a prostitute. The result ought o be a cream with a pearlescent sheen to it, perhaps not so dissimilar to the Spanish white I tried to make earlier, The Oil of Rhodium (Rosewood oil) is probably just there for scent, but the pearl powder may not be real pearls. As I mentioned in my post on pearls , real pearl powder was a very expensive cosmetics and the cheaper alternative of Bismuth could use the same name. And as Mrs. Glasse was an ordinary woman, it is very likely that she meant Bismuth. The last recipe suggests that was well;

Hannah Glasse

Pearl-Water.

MIX pearl-powder with honey and lavender-water ; and then the pearl-powder will never be discoloured.

I don’t know if real pearls can turn suggest, but I do know that Bismuth can, if exposed to sulphur. Am I too far-fetched if I think that the last recipe can be a way to hopefully prevent that?

I do need to try out the Nun’s Cream though! I love old recipes when they actually mention the proportions of the ingredients!

Pictures sources:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://neilcooksgrigson.blogspot.se/

Marechalle Powder, brown hair powder

Portrait of a Lady with a Statuette of Cupid, by Francis Cotes (1726-1770).

Cropping up from time to time in 18th century literature is something called Marechalle powder, which seems to be a brown hair powder. Like the fair Aurelia adorns herself in Aurelia: or, The contest: an heroi-comic poem in four cantos:

”Thrice low he bends, then, drawing near the fair,
He shakes a downy puff with graceful air,
Long, blue-stain'd irons from his rough attire
He draws, and gives them to the glowing fire:

While this white pontiff's hands aloft are spread,
In solemn pomp to elevate the head,
Two spotless virgins of the servient band,
Close by the shrine in awful silence stand;

One, puffs and Marechalle powder lifts on high,
And gives soft ointment to the deity;
One ready stands thin, forked wires to bend,
Stain'd o'er with black, and sharp at either end,

And bears those instruments of special note,
Form'd of clear horn, or of the tortoise' coat,
Smooth, speckled teeth their polish'd points disclose,
Some wide extend, some meet in closer rows.

Her golden tresses, wreath'd in stubborn pride.
Now form three hollow tubes on either side;
Low down her back a monstrous bag descends,
Where scented grease with scented powder blends;

Thick and more thick the clouds of fragrance roll,
And brown and yellow dust o'ershades the whole;
At length, the labour of successive hours,
In form complete the finish'd wonder tow'rs." /Samuel Hoole, 1783

As brown hair powder is mentioned elsewhere, and as I’m a bit obsessed with coloured hair-powder, I have long wanted to find a recipe for it, and today I got my wish. I was readingThe Art of Cookery and, lo and behold, the recipe was there!