Parasol. Culture: French. Date: 1855-65.The coral handle, seen here, with its matching rib tips is fairly rare and so delicate that it speaks of the highly decorative and ephemeral quality of parasols of this period. The ultimate fragility of the handle is in the little spurs that protrude from the main shank making them highly vulnerable to breakage. This would have been a very expensive model and made a statement about the wearer's social economic standing. As a marquise parasol, it would have been used more for flirtation purposes than actual shading from the sun. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.