{"product_id":"antique-19th-century-cardboard-box-with-mirror-and-painting-under-glass-on-lid","title":"1830s Continental Trinket Box; with Strange Painting on the Lid. Antique Mirror Inside","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is such an exquisite little box. I can't believe how beautifully made it is. It has a good bit of age to it. I think that on stylistic evidence the box dates to the 1830s, and it is possibly French or German in origin.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am not sure what this little box was intended for - but it is certainly a vanity item for a lady. It has a little mirror in the lid section, perhaps it originally contained a little pot of rouge or perhaps used to store little earrings, studs or trinkets on a dressing table. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI love the intricate shape of the box - and it is hard to believe that it was made of blue-coloured cardboard and is now nearly 200 years old - I have struggled to find another quite like it. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wee box is made of a firm card and decorated around all the edges with brass gilt strips with faux rivets and inside the box, there are more banding sections - applied to hold the mirror in place. The mirror on the interior is located in the lid - and it is a small antique silvered one - which has darkened with age. Again, another indicator of the age of this special little box. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe exterior lid has a little early 1830s watercolour painting on it. The colours are still all nice and bright with hardly any fading and it is covered with a slightly curved glass to protect the little painting below.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a strange image. It features a lady dressed in a fashionable 1830s scarlet red dress with large puffed \"mutton sleeves\".  She is in a chair out in the garden - her mansion house is seen in the mid-distance to the left. She watches a little boy playing in the garden - and wags her finger to chastise him. He seems to be playing at \"dressing up as a soldier\". He wears a strange white hat that looks like a homemade paper bicorne one - and carries a little stick with a red and white pennon attached at the top. This particular pennon would have been flown on the top of lances by either British or French lancers serving at Waterloo. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn France at this time - popular interest in Napoleon was starting to ascend again. \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe revolutions in France of 1830 and 1848 revived Napoleon I’s reputation, and he came to be seen more often as a symbol of enlightened progress and military expertise than of dictatorship and defeat. Even in England, there was a surge in collecting Napoleonica and Queen Victoria was known to have purchased items relating to him.  The French \u003c\/span\u003ewere calling for the return of the Emperior's body from his resting place at St Helena.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo I would suspect that the incident depicted might be linked to a new romantic view of the former French ruler in the 1830s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRegardless of my speculation here on the subject - the little box is Continental and dates to the 1830s. It is in good condition for its age - and I have taken a lot of images for your inspection. My asking price reflects its age, attractiveness, and rarity value.  Probably an item for a specialist box collector. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePostage in the UK will be with Royal Mail Tracked. Please select a signed for option at the check out so it can be fully insured in transit.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Iconic Edinburgh","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39848884011072,"sku":"Filing Cabinet: Drawer 11","price":150.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0271\/1902\/6240\/files\/1830s-continental-trinket-box-with-strange-painting-on-the-lid-antique-mirror-inside-georgian-snuff-518.webp?v=1786176306","url":"https:\/\/www.iconicedinburgh.co.uk\/products\/antique-19th-century-cardboard-box-with-mirror-and-painting-under-glass-on-lid","provider":"Iconic Edinburgh","version":"1.0","type":"link"}