Footcare

Pottery crocodile, Egypt

Pumice in silver, India or Pakistan

Left: Purchased from Cecil V. Goddard in 1919; 1919.71.1
Right: Donated by Hereford City Museum in 1942; 1942.1.404The book, An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians, first published in 1836, describes a bather entering the Egyptian public bath house (hararah) and receiving a massage before his feet are rubbed with a rasp of baked clay; "there are two kinds of rasp used for this purpose: one is very porous and rough, and its rasping surface is scored with several lines; the other is of a fine, close clay and the surface with which the rubbing is performed is rendered rough artificially...The rougher rasp is of indispensible utility to persons who do not wear stockings; which is the case of most of the inhabitants of Egypt: the other is for the more delicate; and is often used for rubbing the skin, to render the skin smooth."

Pumice is a volcanic rock formed by rapidly cooled frothy, watery lava. The air bubbles solidified into the rock's matrix give pumice two of its attractive properties: a porosity of 90% making it very lightweight, and a rough textured surface. For these reasons, pumice has been used as an exfoliator for thousands of years, grinding down the corns, calluses and dead skin that naturally build up on feet, elbows and knees with prolonged friction and wear.

This example from South East Asia has been encased in stamped silver and fixed with resin and probably belonged to a woman. The underside, where the pumice surface is revealed, has been scored with additional cuts to make it even rougher. As well as smoothing and polishing the skin, pumice is effective at removing hair. The Roman legionnaires often used pumice instead of a razor to keep their faces clean-shaven each day. Today, pumice remains a top-seller in the foot care industry both as a solid rasp or rubber, or ground down into a powder and added to foot creams.