Tunbridge Ware – A Small Trinket Box with Lift Off Lid and Mosaic Image of Girl c1855

Description

Heading : Tunbridge Ware – A Small Trinket Box with Lift Off Lid and Mosaic Image of Girl
Date : c1855
Period : Victorian
Origin : Tunbridge Wells; Kent
Decoration : Image of a girl within a plain border to the top of the lid; no other decoration
Size :  5.6 x 3.4 x 2.4 cm
Condition : Excellent; no tile loss; tiny sliver of veneer missing from one corner
Restoration : none
Weight :  18 grams

Notes : This is one of half a dozen or so similar small images which appeared on other boxes or which were sometimes framed as individual images; the use of green tesserae made from oak discoloured by fungal growth and gleaned from the Eridge Park estate would indicate that these came from the Nye/Barton concerns around the middle of the 19th centiry; uses were many and varied – matches. bits and bobs – this one has tobacco or snuff residue…Nowadays this would lend itself to a pill box