Etui

An etui is a small ornamental case, traditionally carried by women in a pocket or purse, that holds a set of miniature everyday implements such as folding scissors, bodkins, sewing needles, hairpins, tweezers, and makeup pencils; some medical versions were made instead to carry a doctor's surgical lancets. Etuis were crafted from fine materials including wood, leather, ivory, silver, gold, tortoiseshell, and mother of pearl, or from shagreen, and their combination of function and craftsmanship made them prized objects in their own right, most famously in the jeweler Faberge's ornamental Necessaire Egg. The name comes from the French word for a keeper or holder. Etuis are most closely associated with the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when a woman's personal grooming and needlework tools were expected to be both useful and fashionable, though the exact origin of the form is not recorded.