“Fold your napkin when you are done with it and place it in your ring, when at home. If you are visiting, leave your napkin unfolded beside your plate.”  This period directive clarifies that the napkin ring, first introduced during the 1830s, was intended for daily use by the family or boardinghouse residents, thereby reducing the need to launder napkins. The Bayou Bend example responds to the vogue for Egyptian design in the late 1860s, a period when the world focused its attention on Khedive Ismail Pasha’s modern nation (1863–1879) and its ambitious program of reforms and innovations.

Technical notes: The base is a separate component, secured by a bolt and guideposts. 

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff.  American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.