Modern-day travel is an organised affair. Toiletry regulations, luggage weight restrictions and a streamlined aviation system are a ubiquitous experience for travellers from all walks of life.
Yet in 18th to 20th century Europe, travel was profoundly different experience, and far less sophisticated. While travel today only takes people a few hours of flying, the journey back then stretched over several days across uncomfortable, bumpy roads and heaving oceans. Slower modes of transport combined with poor infrastructure meant travel was an expensive and logistically challenging affair reserved only for society's elite.
Attending to bodily needs, such as grooming, eating and drinking, required ingenious solutions. This challenge brought about a unique class of travel accessories that the French called nécessaire de voyage.
Literally translated to "travel necessities", these travel cases were once an essential to maintain aristocratic decorum across difficult conditions. They stored utensils for eating, drinking and grooming in small, compact cases. Made in a series of precious materials such as silver, gold, porcelain and crystal, they are engineering feats and embodiments of meticulous European craftsmanship.
Dr Jaap Kamp, chairman of Amsterdam's Museum of Bags and Purses, has a passion for these objects, and recently gave a lecture about them at Liang Yi Museum, where several models were on display. He and his wife collect these historical items and together have published a book in Dutch about their cultural and social significance.
"My wife and I are impressed by the ingenuity of the cabinet makers, silversmiths and porcelain makers who made these travel cases. Different artisans must have worked together to make these beautiful things, so, from a technical point of view, we are impressed by what we see."