Year 10 before Christ
Rome, Italy
It was in Rome, in the year ten BC, that Cassia intimately reveals her beauty routine, a prelude to her meeting with the emperor.
This case containing recipes and beauty accessories from near and far is her great treasure. With the help of the curious Phoebe, who knows all the gestures and manners to satisfy the coquettish desires of women, she begins this morning ritual with preciousness and attention to detail.
They chatter and share mundane comments, while preparing her face with balms that are sometimes wonderful, and at times repulsive. Intended for the tenderness of her skin, the ruby colour of her lips, the harmony of her eyebrows, the immaculateness of her teeth, the intensity of her gaze and the choicely chosen message of her perfume, this ceremony is performed in the projection of a sure seduction…
This is how this bundle of references from yesteryear questions the brushstrokes and combs of our time.