The thyrsus-finialed vase of egg-shaped and wine-krater form with trompe l'oeil fluted bowl wrapped by palms, has a domed lid wreathed by imbricated paterae and festooned with oak, sacred to Jupiter and emblematic of hospitality. A pair of similar cutlery-urns, with shaft-supported lids of different shape, but almost certainly executed by the same cabinet-maker, were acquired in 1870 by the Victoria & Albert Museum (illustrated in M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1982, p. 194, W/1 and R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. ed., 1954, vol. II, p. 276, fig. 7). Its form relates to the celebrated 'egg-vase' introduced at the Sèvres factory in 1766 and associated with the ancient symbol of the world (A. Sassoon, Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain, California, 1991, no. 19). Other egg-vase cutlery-boxes were executed in the 1770s in ormolu-enriched tôle by Matthew Boulton of Soho, Birmingham. A pair are illustrated in L.Synge, Mallett's Great English Furniture, London, 1991, p. 211 and 213, fig. 247.
A similar urn-shaped satinwood tea-caddy was sold anonymously, Christie's South Kensington, 13 April 1994, lot 97.