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| Lid of box depicting Le Panier Misterieux. Wolverhampton Museum. EM48 |
Object Focus: Box transfer-printed in red, probably made in Birmingham or Bilston between about 1753 and 1765.
The lid is probably inspired by the print 'Le Panier Misterieux' (The Mysterious Basket) by René Gaillard (see below), itself taken from a painting by François Boucher. The painting depicts a sleeping woman with a basket of flowers and a note being delivered to her by a mystery young man. The young woman on the box is not sleeping but the image is so similar it seem likely to have been informed by the print. The painting was set in a fictional classical scene, complete with urn, and the box more of a pastoral scene with a small cottage in the background. It was probably used as a patch box or bonbonnière.
The lid is probably inspired by the print 'Le Panier Misterieux' (The Mysterious Basket) by René Gaillard (see below), itself taken from a painting by François Boucher. The painting depicts a sleeping woman with a basket of flowers and a note being delivered to her by a mystery young man. The young woman on the box is not sleeping but the image is so similar it seem likely to have been informed by the print. The painting was set in a fictional classical scene, complete with urn, and the box more of a pastoral scene with a small cottage in the background. It was probably used as a patch box or bonbonnière.
Like many of these eighteenth-century image, it inspired other crafts as well, such as this porcelain ornament produced by the Fulda Pottery and Porcelain Manufactory in Germany.
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| MET Collection. |
Detail of Enamel Box
The front of the box depicts a man seated, thought to be the Prince of Wales, studying the arts and sciences. The back pictures Britannia with a torch, accompanied by an angel (both below).
NOTES
Height: 4.3cm, Width: 6cm, Length: 9.7cm
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| Front of the box. |
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| Back of the box. |
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| Close-up of the lid. |
NOTES
Height: 4.3cm, Width: 6cm, Length: 9.7cm