Description
Heading : Sorrento style Tunbridge ware sewing box c1880
Date : c1880
Period : Victoria
Origin : Probably Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Decoration :Highly unusual central mosaic of dancing figures in the Sorrento style. Geometric mosaic border. Front panel with geometric mosaic banding. Interior with lift out tray with a selection of sewing paraphernalia.
Size :22.1x13cm, 8.2cm height
Condition : Good, some lifting to the front panel and a small area of loss there also. Otherwise light general wear.
Restoration : None
Weight : 625 grams
A very unusual box indeed. The flourishing tourist trade of the 19th century meant that people from around Europe descended on Pompeii and Herculaneum. Thus a cottage industry arose in Sorrento to cater to the souvenir hungry tourists. Unsurprisingly, given it’s proximity to the famous Roman sites, mosaic designs were immensely popular. Some have even argued that it is from Sorrento that the Kent manufacturers learned the art of tessellated mosaic, although this is likely spurious.
This box, however, certainly desplays the Italian influence as the dancing figures, almost never seen on Tunbridge ware, are entirely typical of the Sorrento ware.
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