The Making of Gilt & Enamel Equipage (c. 1760s)

Equipage with egg-shaped containers and etui, c. 1760s.
Wolverhampton Museum Collection.

A previous post (here) explored eighteenth-century equipage (also called chatelaines) which were hung from women's dresses at the waist, holding and displaying objects such as watches as well as the etui shown in these examples, etui being containers of useful items such as scissors, needles and bodkins.

Birmingham Button Box: Floral Enamel Buttons (c. 1745-c. 1765)

These enamel buttons were almost certainly produced in Birmingham between about 1745 and 1765, and were possibly made in the manufactory of John Talyor. Taylor ran, probably, the largest manufactory in Birmingham at this time, including making enamel toys and gilt buttons. These buttons have a painted enamel centre set in gilt metal. There were other button-makers and enamellers in the town, but the combining of the two makes Taylor's factory a likely candidate for their manufacture. If they were not the product of Taylor's manufactory then they were probably produced through collaboration, with one maker producing the enamel circles and another mounting them in gilt metal.

Enamel Menagerie Nᵒ.7: Lions Boxes

Enamel lion bonbonnière, c. 1760-70.
Sold at Bonham's in 2011 for £2,750. Originally from
the Mort & Moira Lesser collection, and before that,
the Ionides Collection.

This beautifully painted lion's head was used as a bonbonnière (sweet box) in the late 1700s. It was made in Birmingham or Bilston, or possibly Wednesbury, and is a particularly fine example. Similar boxes for other big cats, such as tigers and leopards, were made but the copper base of the box is raised around the mane, suggesting that this box was designed from start to finish as a lion. The mane and fur are painted in delicate lines in multiple shades of yellow and brown and his whiskers and teeth are particularly endearing. 

The lid (see below) was painted with an image of Sampson grappling with a lion. The lid is hinged and mounted simply. 

Lid of lion bonbonnière (above).
6.2cm diameter.

Enamel Menagerie Nᵒ.5: Pigeon Boxes

Enamel pigeons, c. 1760-70 (6.3cm high).
Sold at Bonham's in 2011. Originally from
the Mort & Moira Lesser collection.

These amorous pigeons provide another example of the variety of animal bonbonnières (sweet boxes) produced in enamel in eighteenth-century Birmingham and Bilston. The two pigeons have interlocking beaks, one painted purple, and the other brown, and may have been given as a token of love or affection. Doves are more usually the bird of love as doves pulled Venus's chariot so became associated with her, the goddess of love. The difference between pigeons and doves, though, is linguistic and aesthetic rather than scientific, and some doves look similar to certain pigeons.*

Venus, by Carlo Lasinio (after Raphael) c. 1780s.
Wellcome Collection.

The lid of the box (below) shows a bird perched on a bunch of grapes, with pears and other fruit nearby. The lid has a simple mount with a hinge opening.

Lid of the pair of pigeons, above.

Enamel Menagerie Nᵒ.4: Boar Boxes

Enamel wild boar, c. 1760-70.
Sold at Bonham's for £1.375 in 2011. Originally
from the Mort & Moira Lesser collection.

Important note: Some of these boxes include mild eighteenth-century erotica.

The boar head box (above and below) was probably made in Birmingham or Bilston in the 1760s. They were usually bonbonnières, which were boxes for keeping sweets, often used to sweeten the breath in eighteenth-century social encounters. Lots of boar boxes survive suggesting that they were popular, or perhaps they were preferred by later collectors. Many of the boxes include images of boar hunting on the lid and, compared to other animals produced as part of the eighteenth-century enamel menagerie, many contain mild erotica either hidden on a secret inner lid or in plain view. ~

The boar's face (above) is intricately painted with each hair visible, complete with tusks and pink snout. The lid (below) is painted with a boar in a woodland scene.

Lid of the above box, 7.5 cm wide.

Enamel Menagerie Nᵒ.1: Frog Boxes

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.