Doe and Hope

Description

The rectangular black painted pine box profusely decorated with Georgian black-wax seals, armorial crests and neoclassical motifs opening to reveal a plain pink paper lined interior survives from the second quarter of the nineteenth century.

The condition of the box is tired, and would be described as poor to fair with some of the wax seals having losses especially to the top and the items price reflects this. It is a rare kind of box and thoroughly evocative of a well-used and long stay in a English country house.

The seals are varied from antiquity to the early nineteenth century and include one for the ‘Oldenburg vice consul for the Isle of Wight’, amongst cameos for the likes of Julius Caesar. The box would have probably been used to keep letters and documents in, rather than cigars, gloves or jewellery for instance.

We can only find one other example like this box, which was sold in 2006 and was in red instead of black, though of exactly the same size. We have also found a red-wax adorned tea caddy sold by Christies in 2009 but nothing in black.

Very academic, rather Sir John Soane, this.