Bowl, barber's bowl

A barber's bowl for for shaving soap and a semi-circular recess for use under the chin when shaving or against the arm for bleeding. It is inscribed with 'OLD THO PARR/ AGED 152’ with the initials ‘R’ and ‘P’ and a name label ‘ROBt PARR’ for Robert Parr, London, OP3526.

Parr opened his shop in Greek Street, Soho in 1703, remaining active to circa 1767, the year of his death. Robert Parr’s touch celebrates his famous ancestor ‘Old Thomas Parr’ who lived, according to an entry in Berrow’s Worcester Journal for 29 January, 1767 ‘to the age of 152 years and upwards’. Old Parr [1483-1635] was buried in Westminster Abbey. Robert Parr died in 1767. Date: 1703-c.1767.