Peinetón (ornamental comb) - Manuel Hugo Paz Morquio, circa 1845.
Originally based on the much more modestly sized peinetas worn by Spanish ladies, peinetónes began trending larger in Latin America in 1823, achieving their apotheosis in Argentina, where the largest reached a width of nearly four feet (the Uruguayan example in the top two photos spreads a mere 23 inches, half the size of the largest).It all came crashing down in the mid 1830’s, when César Hipólito Bacle satirized their size in a series of lithographs (bottom) in the Argentinian magazine Extravagancias de 1834. Ladies continued to wear them, but the size began to wane and the combs fell out of fashion altogether by the 1850’s.
And a good thing for the sea turtles, too; most peinetónes were made from shaped, pierced, and carved sea turtle shells (ivory and mother-of-pearl were also used). There was no PETA in 19th-century Latin America; many a grand old man/dame of the sea met his/her end in the service of the peinetón craze. (Ufansius)
