Scissors Case (Etui) (c.1690): Art, History and Details

Scissors Case (Etui) (c.1690) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Attached to a belt loop, silver scissor cases were practical fashion accessories. Intricately designed and expensively produced, they demonstrated the wealth of a wearer. Cases like this one were often decorated with motifs of love and given as traditional wedding or engagement gifts. On one side of this case, two putti raise a heart above their heads, on the other they defend it with a pair of crossed spears.

Object facts

• Title: Scissors Case (Etui)
• Date: c.1690
• Culture: The Netherlands or France
• Type: Silver
• Technique: silver
• Dimensions: Overall: 8.6 x 4.5 cm (3 3/8 x 1 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1953.632

A detail from the museum

The inscription on this scissor box reads “TOVS. OV. RIEN” (all or nothing) on one side and “IE. PERIRAI. PLVSTOS” (I would rather die) on the other.

Collection credit

Gift of Dr. Emil Delmar

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.