Silver Boxes

The silver box has fascinated and intrigued collectors for many centuries. It is perhaps safe to say that no other objets de vertu have attracted such vivid attention from maker and collector alike. This book is a comprehensive study of the subject which concentrates on the development of the silver box in England from the sixteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. Because the interest of collectors lies not so much in the shape or type of boxes as in the wide variety of uses to which they have been put and the splendid enrichment lavished upon them, there is a penetrating analysis of the roots and derivations of ornament. The full colour illustrations show boxes with as many diverse forms and uses as possible. The term box covers any receptacle (unless it is a vessel) whether it is a snuffbox, a pyx or a lancet case for use in phlebotomy, as long as it possesses a lid, hinged or otherwise. The usual snuffboxes and vinaigrettes appear in plenty but they have been carefully selected to show th