 |
| Box 1: Enamel bonbonnière (sweet box), c. 1765-80. Sold at Bonham's for £1,500 in 2011. Originally from the Mort & Moira Lesser collection. |
This little frog bonbonnière (sweet box) was made in the 1760s or 1770s in either Birmingham or the Black Country, as were lots of other 'critters' just like him (see the whole menagerie here). The eighteenth-century was a period when the natural world was being increasingly studied and categorised, with many animals being depicted in new ways, with increasing accuracy. These boxes provided their owners with an amusing novelty - a frog in their pocket.
 |
| Frog, Lizard and Snake from Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri Accurata Descrptio [...], (c. 1730s). |
 |
| Plate showing frogs, from The Tailless Batrachians of Europe (1897-1898). |
Frog hunting was also visualised as a pastime in the 1790s:
 |
| Frog Hunting by Thomas Rowlandson, held at the MET. |
Other Boxes
Box 2
There is another frog in the collection at Wolverhampton Museum and Art Gallery (see below), which is painted with a different pattern but both frog were probably formed from the same mould, and both are 4.8 to 5 cm high.
More detail has been added to the mound that the frog is sitting on in the Wolverhampton example, with the frog's 'fingers' intertwined in the grass. The base of the box at Wolverhampton Museum has a spray of flowers on its base (below).
Although not pictured on the Bonham's site, the lid of their frog (top image, box 1) was painted 'with lovers seated in a rural landscape'. Another box, from a private collection (below, box 3), gives an impression of that scene.
Box 3
Box 4
Although more crudely painted than the others, this little box (above) sold for £2,750 at Christie's in 2013. The base (not pictured) shows 'an amorous scene of a couple being shot by Cupid's arrow'.
 |
| Frog held at Wolverhampton Museum. |
 |
| Wolverhampton Museum date their box at 1775-1780. |
More detail has been added to the mound that the frog is sitting on in the Wolverhampton example, with the frog's 'fingers' intertwined in the grass. The base of the box at Wolverhampton Museum has a spray of flowers on its base (below).
Box 3
 |
| Another frog (and its lid) from a private collection, c. 1780. Showing the curvature of the base, as these were objects for the pocket. |
Box 4
 |
| Enamel frog box (5 cm), c. 1780. Christie's. |
Although more crudely painted than the others, this little box (above) sold for £2,750 at Christie's in 2013. The base (not pictured) shows 'an amorous scene of a couple being shot by Cupid's arrow'.