Tunbridge Ware Sewing Box with Geometric Mosaic c1850

Description

Heading : Tunbridge Ware – A Fine Sewing Box with Isometric Cubes and Geometric Mosaics
Date : c1850
Period : Victorian
Origin : Tunbridge Wells. England
Decoration : A rectangular. pillow topped box with a lift-out tray; to the top lid. a central panel of isometric cubs including green oak and slice-cut palmyra tiles; two pairs of continuous and banded keylines frame a frieze made up of a repeating. swag-like geometric pattern around all four edges; the same keylines bound a narrower ten-square geometric pattern around the four flat edges of the body. External elements all set wthin rosewood veneers. Internally. a lift-out tray sits on two ledges; this consists of twelve compartments. two of which have small pin-cushions. one with a lift out ‘cushion’ which has bands to hold tools in place (see below) and one of which has a fixed. contoured ‘thimble holder’. The tray is paper-lined. and has narrow. canted and mosaic-framed edges to the top edge.
Size : 23.1 cm wide x17.8 cm deep x 10.9 cm high
Condition : Excellent; virtually no tile loss; surfaces are sound and even with just a few minor bumps and bruises; the tray has its original lining paper and pin-cushions. though the lift out lid. thimble holder and well-sides have been relined with green silk some time ago (over the original pale blue paper in the case of the latter)
Restoration : cleaned and polished
Weight : 856 grams

Notes : Although unlabelled. the design of this box. the canted mosaic tray-edging. the swag-like frieze and the lining paper are all consistent with pieces which are identified as having been made in the workshops of Edmund Nye; the ‘tool cushion’ holds tweezers. scissors. a bodkin and what we are reliably informed is either an eyelet-maker or point-turner