Lot Essay
The exotic Indian (Vizagapatam) ivory-veneered triple-stepped (crepidoma) dressing-case is conceived in the George III 'antique' manner of the 1770s, with a hollow-swept cornice conceived as an altar-plinth for a medallioned dressing-mirror (now missing). It is elegantly engraved in the Greek or 'Etruscan' manner with sacred-urns celebrating marriage as 'a sacrifice on the altar of love'. Poetic laurel-strung borders form the palm-wrapped urns, which in turn issue meanders of flowered laurels. Ring-handled and lidded dressing-boxes are arranged around a circular 'medallion' box in the base drawer and are similarly engraved with serpentined laurel branches, although lacking vases. Such objets de vertu, incorporating English manufactured glass, proved a popular adornment of the lady's dressing-table in the later part of the 18th Century, and were commissioned in considerable numbers by merchants in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. An example, purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London in 1975, retains its bracket-footed plinth and its mirror, which is festooned with ribbon-tied laurels above a flowered medallion.
Messrs D. and J. Diller, who in 1837 succeeded to the Covent Garden establishment, were suppliers of small cabinet-ware to Queen Victoria. It is likely that they repaired this dressing-case, as announced on their trade sheet, and possibly removed its glass.
Messrs D. and J. Diller, who in 1837 succeeded to the Covent Garden establishment, were suppliers of small cabinet-ware to Queen Victoria. It is likely that they repaired this dressing-case, as announced on their trade sheet, and possibly removed its glass.