So pervasive was the caricature vogue that it even extended to such baubles of sophistication as cigarette and vanity boxes. Composer Cole Porter, whose urbane music permeated New York and Hollywood, collected expensive cigarette cases, some of which were ornamented with caricature portraits of himself or the actors and playwrights with whom he worked
Famed operatic tenor Enrico Caruso was also a renowned caricaturist who loved to make mocking sketches of his own amiable, round face. After his death, the Parisian firm La Cloche created this silver and enamel vanity box modeled after his self-portrait.
Enrico Caruso vanity case
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La Cloche, after Enrico Caruso, circa 1935
Private collection
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