bonbonniere

Summary

A box modelled in high relief depicting a lion crouched on a grassy mound as if about to pounce; the box is fixed into an oblong mount with rounded ends, slightly chased, with a hinged lid/base. The modelled section of the box is painted in naturalistic colours. The lid/base is painted all over with a landscape, probably over a print, showing a stag-hunting scene in which the stag swims a river to escape the hunt. The image may possibly originate from a Dutch or French print.

Display Label

Gallery text panel Harold Raby Collection Harold Raby was charmed by English enamels finding them 'dainty and pretty, quaint and curious'. As a boy, he inherited a tiny, battered enamel box which inspired him to collect over 400 more items during the first half of the 20th century. These enamels were mainly made in Staffordshire and were fashionable from about 1750 to 1820. For Raby, they evoked a lost age of elegance and gave an insight into outmoded social customs. A local bank manager, Raby only had moderate means but he tried to buy examples of every type of object produced by the short-lived English enamel industry. He acquired boxes for face patches, snuff and tobacco, candlesticks, perfume bottles, tea caddies....... He even risked air raids to attend sales in London. Eventually, boxes outnumbered every other item and gave his collection an obsessive quality.