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A particularly attractive and evocative late 18th century Georgian Bilston enamel patch or keepsake box, dating to around 1785 and formed in the wonderfully tactile shape of a heart.
The box is made in the traditional South Staffordshire manner, with enamel applied over a formed copper base and mounted within a dark metal hinged framework. The sides are finished in a particularly strong apple-green enamel, contrasting beautifully with the white lid and interior.
The lid is exceptionally decorative, centred by a finely painted three-masted sailing ship under full sail, travelling across stylised blue-green waves. The vessel is enclosed within a large heraldic shield, surmounted by a coloured wreath and golden crest, while red pennants and a prominent stern flag add to the unmistakably maritime character of the scene.
Surrounding the ship is a wonderfully fresh Georgian floral garland of blue, red and yellow flowers, berries and green foliage. The combination of the heart-shaped body, brightly coloured flowers and imposing sailing ship gives the box considerably more visual impact than the more commonly encountered oval Bilston patch boxes.
The naval subject is especially appropriate to late Georgian Britain. During the later 18th century Britain\'s maritime power, its merchant fleet and the Royal Navy occupied an enormous place in national life. Ships consequently appeared frequently on personal and commemorative objects, sometimes carrying patriotic meaning and sometimes a more personal association with a sailor or loved one at sea.
The heart shape makes this example particularly appealing. Such small enamel boxes were intimate personal possessions and were frequently exchanged as tokens of friendship, affection or remembrance. In this example the combination of the heart form and sailing ship could therefore have carried a sentimental as well as maritime meaning, although there is no inscription allowing a specific original recipient to be identified.
Bilston and the surrounding South Staffordshire workshops became one of the principal centres of English enamel-box manufacture during the 18th century. Thin copper shells were formed by specialist box or “toy” makers before successive layers of enamel decoration were applied and fired. Contemporary patch boxes were often fitted with mirrors, although this was by no means universal; this example instead retains its white enamelled inner lid. Research from the University of York specifically records solid green as one of the characteristic colours used on Bilston patch boxes.
An especially useful comparison is a virtually identical heart-shaped example, also decorated with a three-masted ship within a shield and the same type of floral border and crest, which was catalogued as a George III Bilston enamel patch box circa 1785. That close comparison gives unusually strong support for both the Bilston attribution and the c1785 dating of the present box.
A charming and increasingly scarce piece of late Georgian social history, combining the fashionable world of the 18th-century personal patch box with Britain\'s powerful contemporary fascination with ships, seafaring and naval life.
Size: c. W 43mm x D 55mm x H 30mm
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