Tunbridge Ware Glove Box – Battle Abbey Cloisters – c1860

Description

Heading : Tunbridge Ware Glove Box with image of Battle Abbey Cloisters
Date : c1860
Period : Victorian
Origin : Tunbridge Wells. England – Henry Hollamby
Decoration : Round top with a central golden satinwood panel containing a mosaic of Battle Abbey Cloisters; this is bounded by walnut veneer to both ends. and surrounded by banded and continuous keyline stringing; to the perimeter of the lid there is a seven-square geometric border; the four edges of the box have a broad. detailed Berlin wool-work flora frieze of roses. primroses and lobed leaves. with the usual banded and continuous borders; base lined with red paper; rosewood edge veneers; internally. there is a green/blue satin lining (very likely original). lacking any sort of lid mounted ‘tool band’ which would identify this as a sewing box if present.
Size : 26.7 cm long x 10.2 cm deep x 9.9 cm high
Condition : Very good; there are a couple of shallow gouges and grain cracks to the walnut veneers. and some very fine separations within the abbey mosaic. but very few tile losses other than a short piece of banded keyline stringing which has come off one bottom side corner; closes well with a working lock and key; a few superficial bumps and bruises entirely commensurate with age
Restoration : replacement key has been provided
Weight :  462 grams

Notes : This is something of a ‘rosetta stone’ for Tunbridge Ware. as in addition to the details above it also has – internally – a printed label detailing ‘THE CLOISTERS Battle Abbey. Sussex’. The nature of the geometric border around the top of the lid exactly  matches that used on a jewellery cabinet which we have seen and which has been positively identified by experts in the Tunbridge Wells Museum as being the work of Henry Hollamby. Similarly the wool-work frieze has also been identified as Hollamby’s. It has always been known that Hollamby made topographic mosaics of numerous buildings which he then sold on to other manufacturers to incorporate in their own boxes; this box now enables us to say with certainty that boxes of Hollamby’s own making. featuring his mosaics. had such identifying labels. We have also taking the liberty of using the museum’s date for the cabinet on this piece. given the commonality of the border to the two pieces.