Carved Decorative Boxes

Fully Fitted Sewing Box From our Sewing Box collection, we are delighted to introduce this Antique Rosewood Sewing Box. The Sewing Box of rectangular form veneered in Rosewood with ...

Internal Music Box Playing Two Aires From our Writing Box collection, we are delighted to bring to the market this exceptional French Palais Royal Musical Writing Box. The Writing ...

A fine example of an English needlework casket from the Charles II period (1660-1685), with silk work exterior panels depicting various figures and animals, a top mirrored compartmen...

A Qing Dynasty period wooden tiered wedding box from the 19th century, with carved sides, handle and nailheads. This Qing Dynasty period wooden tier...

A large and unusual early 20th-century Austrian Orientalist hand-carved wooden novelty box and cover, modeled as a reclining camel with a seated rider atop its hump. Orientalism was...

Exclusive & fine quality hand-crafted Chinoiserie box. The diversity in techniques and materials used by craftsman around the world and over the last centuries never seizes to a...

The shape of the inactive Tronador volcano reminded us of the pyramid shaped idea of our boxes that make up this collection. With a rectangular or square base, the box is a reflectio...

Box Quartz and marble square in black marble with lid. With natural quartz on lid's top.

More than a kilo of sterling silver was needed to create this stunning rectangular tabletop box. Worked with the very complicated guilloche technique, it was then enamelled at high heat with translucent enamel to make the superb workmanship shine through. The fine rectangular miniature cm. 7.5 x 10.7 on vegetable ivory. The small masterpiece handmade by the painter Anna Maria Manfriani reproduces the famous portrait of Empress Eugenia de Montijo, by the painter Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The unenamelled sterling silver parts were then gilded with a 24-carat galvanic bath. In Art Nouveau style, with a “lost” zip, i.e. semi-invisible. Dimensions cm. 15 x 18 x 3.5. Weight gr. 1095. Designed by Giorgio Salimbeni in 1980 and manufactured in Florence at the Salimbeni company headquarters with completely manual execution by artisan artists with a very thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for supporting numerous enamelling firings at around 800° Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick, 19th Countess of Teba, 16th Marquise of Ardales known as Eugénie de Montijo was Empress of the French from her marriage to Napoleon III on 30 January 1853 until the fall of the Emperor on 4 September 1870. From July 28 to September 4...

Rectangular box with rounded corners in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè with hand-engraved and enamelled Arab-style ornament. Dimensio...

Vintage Rajasthani Pietra Dura White Stone Inlay Taj Mahal India Style coaster plates. Rajasthani inlaid stone marble decorative set of 7 small roun...

Rare Indian coffee made of hand carved wood with metal frame. The door opens from the top and reveals the interior. Beautiful piece that could be used as a letter box or as a small jewellery cabinet...

incredible Rectangular corrugated box made of wood and old blue mirrored glass with two details that recall the work of Peter Church. Also on the glass we can see staining that date...

Round snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamels on guillochè and hand-painted floral miniature, surrounded by a frame with leaves on a blue bac...

This 19th-century Thai manuscript box is a rare and exquisite example of traditional Thai craftsmanship, designed to store sacred palm-leaf manuscripts ...

Place this elegant, antique Napoleon III copper box in your master bath to keep your jewelry safe and organized. Crafted in France circa 1880, the ornate ...

Shaped pillbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with hand-painted miniature in Louis XVI style, second half of the 19th century, and fine hand engravings. Measure cm. 3,5 x 4,...

Victorian Miniature Black forest Antler Casket 1860 A marvelous antique rustic casket. It is made of wood, veneered with antler pieces. On top an antler plaque...

Rectangular snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with fine hand engraving, fire enamelled, in “Rococo” style from the early 19th century. Measurements cm. 4.5 x 7.7 x 2. ...

American Victorian Country style wooden box with four brass corners and a carved floral front

A Fantastic 19th Century French Louis XVI Style Dore Bronze Mounted Black Crystal Box. The box is composed of two sections of French black crystal wh...

Vintage carved wood box features abstract heart form in striking choice of solid burl maple and mahogany woods. Asymmetrically sculpted box is covered with a sliding lid, held by a...

Sterling silver gold plated snuff box with translucent fired enamels on guillochè and monochrome blue hand-painted miniatures on five sides and fine hand engravings on all edges. Eng...

Round favor box or small container in cut crystal and lid in gold-plated 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent fired enamel on guilloché in a modern contemporary style. Diameter ...

Italian Modern Architectural Brass Inlaid Travertine Box, Circa 1970s Italy, Circa 1970s A sleek and sophisticated Italian modern architectural travertine box with brass inlay, mad...

Mid 19th century Swedish hand painted strong box / chest circa 1850. Good quality example of a Scandinavian strong box, which offers many use's around the home today, such as storag...

Octagonal table cigarette box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold-plated with a fine hand-engraved design and two-colour fire-enamelled with other fi...

Small egg in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guilloché, Russian Empire style inspired by the eggs of Carl Fabergé, late 19th century, early 20th...

Decorative American Craftsman Studio Wood Lidded Box, 1980's Two-piece, oval-shaped, worked, unknown hardwood box with doweled lid made by Jerry Starr, sculptor, NJ, USA. Produced i...

English military leather chest with original brass mounts, braided tacks, and brass side handles. All original. Early 19th Century

Exceptional 19th century French coconut trinket box hand carved with acanthus leaves on the lid, jewelry like metal work on the rims, expertly carved neoclassical motifs all around a...

Very special Baroque box with carved decorations of mythical creatures and figurative scenes Carved monogrammed initials "HPP" + Family Crest, origin: Gudbrandsdal, Norway, circa 174...

Snuff Box Silver is in 925/1000 sterling. Snuff Box Silver has black fired enamels on guilloché. Snuff Box Silver has a lid with geometric design ...

This cave a liqueur set is truly special because the box is exquisitely Carved and has the original beveled glass. The decanters and stem Ware are by St. Louis and the original la...

A vintage Japanese Tsuzuri bako, writing box. with an unusual, deeply carved relief of Japanese sarcandra glabra, a woody herbal sub-shrub native to Asia with deep green glossy leave...

19th century victorian burr walnut desk top writing slope circa 1870. Fine quality english made victorian writing slope.  Exterior of rich burr walnut with tunbridge ware inlay deco...

A rather unique painted chest from Europe, this table coffer was commissioned in 1915. The right side (when viewing from the front) is dated, with the numbers flanking a springing ra...

Gold-Plated Sterling Silver and Enamel Pill Box with Floral Miniature by Romano Buccioni for Salimbeni, Florence, 1980 Charming shaped pill box in 925/1000 sterling silver, gold pla...

ANTIQUE KITCHENALIA/FARMING INTEREST A wooden crate originally used to transport eggs safely from a rural farm, usually by railway, to their final destination in a town or city. Th...

Table boxes such as this shapely Venetian (Italy) one would have been found in wealthy European homes during the 19th century. Hand-carved from pine that was grown in Switzerland, ou...

A hand carved Chinese large table box with hinged lid. Intricately carved all-over with Asian carvings resting of four paw feet. Bronze lock plate on front.

Great condition for its age. No major losses or damage. Has original sewing pieces inside.

Salimbeni Pocket Cigarette Case, octagonal section, in 925/1000 sterling silver. Salimbeni Pocket Cigarette Case has a spring-loaded button and opening Salimbeni Pocket Cigarette C...

Oval curved snuff-box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold-plated with translucent fired enamels on guilloché, above and below. Modern contemporary style. Size cm. 4.5 x 6.5 x 2.3. Weigh...

Rectangular table box with rounded corners in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with two-tone translucent fired enamels with guillochè stripes and hand-engraved motifs. George V E...

An especially sweet four-drawer hand-carved "tramp art" box. The top is decorated with a symbolic heart and arrow, a common design element in Tramp Art. The drawers are embellished with porcelain knobs. Carved ladies boots...

Rectangular cigarette case with rounded corners in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with fire-enameled and hand-painted miniature by painter Renato Dainelli depicting a pheasant....

Jewel box Baroque style, in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated. Jewel Box has fine hand engravings around fired enameled spaces with lapis lazuli type painting. Jewel Box Baroqu...

19th century hand painted tine decorative box circa 1860. Good quality Swedish tine box, used for storing valuables or foods for secure storage.  This example in it's original blue ...

A French Art Deco Period Silver, Enamel, and Chinese Jade Double Slot box, attributed to Cartier. The box is barrel-shaped and finished in black enamel. It rests on a pair of Chinese...

Square snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with perforated lid, embossed and engraved by hand, with fine round miniature diameter cm. 3.8 hand painted in tempera on veg...

Rounded rectangular snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with beautiful fire enamelled miniature hand painted by the painter Simone Dainelli inspired by the paintings of Boris Vallejo, in fantastic contemporary style, with hand-engraved frame. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1967 and manufactured in Florence in numerous specimens with various subjects and different colors, in the headquarters of the Salimbeni company with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for withstanding numerous high-fire enamelled firings at about 800° C. Miniature is a very ancient technique which consists of painting works in small proportions. It was born for the decoration of the first letter of the paragraph of the books. Over the years, however, this technique is refined and enriched, then moving on to precious personal items. hand painted miniatures can be done with multiple different techniques. The most important that we use on our articles are of three kinds: 1) Fire enamel. 2) Water tempera on an ivory plate. 3) Painted on mother-of-pearl. Fire enameled miniatures: On a first layer of enamel generally white or very clear or even transparent suitably liquefied at a temperature of about 750 ° C, the chosen subject is painted using miniature colors which are as many colored crystals, ground and reduced to a very fine, almost impalpable powder washed and purified in distilled water with the addition of small quantities of deoxidizing acids which, diluted with essential oils (usually essential oil of solder), can be mixed to form a palette of colors. With very fine sable hair brushes you draw the subject starting from the perimeter and then gradually adding various layers of color. It is necessary to carry out various firings very often so that the colors harden and are not absorbed by the underlying glaze as, during the subsequent firings at 750 ° C, during liquefaction, it would spread irremediably. Hence the need to form the painting a little at a time, cooking it numerous times. Therefore it is necessary to proceed with numerous retouching, often overlapping different colors that only the painter's experience knows. A beautiful miniature needs from 20 to over 50 firings and is finished when the painter deems he does not have to further intervene. Some colors must have darker tones than others because then, by superimposing the transparent enamel placed at the end of the miniature, they fade. This transparent layer, called “fondant” in jargon, must be smoothed and polished like all other translucent enamel colors. The miniatures with water tempera colors are painted on real ivory...

Scandinavian hand painted 19th century pine strong box circa 1840. Good example of traditional rustic Swedish woodwork.  Painted in a russet red paint with hand painted cream drags....

PRESENTING A LOVELY 19C Anglo Indian Highly Carved Sadeli Mosaic Inlaid Sewing Box. Made in Bombay, India, circa 1880. The box is made of sandalwood with highly carved raised teak wood panels on all sides, depicting temple scenes, animals and foliage. The box is in a sarcophagus form. It is edged in bone (and we can tell it is bone and not ivory, from the color and evidence of capillaries, which are not found in ivory), and banded with Bombay Sadeli mosaic and ebony veneer. The lid opens to reveal a removable tray with various open compartments and lidded compartments. 5 lidded compartments, 1 unlidded compartment and 8 holders for thimbles, etc The tray lifts to reveal a blue velvet (original) lined section, for storing jewelry etc, with sections for collars etc. The inside of the lid has a removable mirror (the mirror is missing on this one but can easily be replaced). Behind the mirror is the original green velvet lining. It has its original brass carry handles on the sides and sits on 4 silvered button feet (of recent origin). Some repairs to the exterior and condition issues (priced accordingly), but still a LOVELY COLLECTIBLE box! These boxes were made by superb Indian craftsmen, specifically for sale to the ruling British elite. These types of boxes, carved padouk and sandalwood, (whilst beautiful and superbly crafted) were of a lesser quality, than the more profusely and intricately mosaic inlay, tortoiseshell and ivory boxes, made for the British ‘Upper Classes’ in the areas of Bombay and Vizagapatam. These type of boxes were much more affordable back in 1880 (and indeed today) and would probably have been bought by mid-level diplomats, civil servants or visitors. Sewing boxes (in general), were in EVERY Victorian home in Britain in the 19th century and like other boxes etc were ‘status symbols’ of your place in society! The more ornate the box, the more ‘Upper Class’ you were! SADELI MOSAIC: “Anglo Indian boxes were made in India for the English residents from the early part of the 18th century. They were brought back or sent back to England usually by the people who had commissioned them. From the beginning of the nineteenth century they were imported more commercially, although not in any significant numbers until the middle decades. They were very highly valued, especially the early ones, to the extent that the designs were copied on late 19th and early 20th century tins. The ancient art of Sadeli Mosaic is said to have been introduced from Shiraz in Persia via Sind to Bombay, a long time before the Anglo Indian boxes were made. It was a technique, which required a high degree of skill and patience. It was executed very lavishly, in that the frequent cuts wasted a great amount of the precious materials used. The workmanship was however more than commensurable to the value of the materials. Ivory, silver, pewter (or other metals), wood and Horn were cut into faceted rods which were bound together to form geometric patterns. When the glue has set, the rods were sliced in transverse sections. This gave the maker a number of angled circular pieces in the original pattern. Several variations of patterns could be achieved by combining the materials in different ways. The ivory was sometimes dyed green to give an extra color. The mosaic pieces in a combination of patterns, often separated by ivory, ebony, Horn or silver stringing were used to veneer sandalwood boxes. In the early boxes, which date from the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, there are large panels of mosaic covering tops and sides of boxes. It took incredible skill to cover such large areas without any shakes or wavering of the pattern. The corners and joins on these boxes are impeccably matched. The makers (reputed to be Persian) of Sadeli mosaic made in the first two decades of the 19th century displayed a total understanding of the qualities of the different materials they used. They combined substances, which can expand and contract according to atmospheric conditions with others, which are hard and unyielding. The result was a sharp definition of the lines and patterns, which made up the whole design. On the early boxes the designs look deceptively simple. The fact is, they emerged from a culture, which had mastered geometry and understood how to generate a pattern from a set number of points. The patterns are so harmoniously combined that their incredible complexity is not immediately apparent. The earliest Sadeli boxes...

Rounded rectangular snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver with fine hand-painted fire-enamelled miniature depicting the Head of the Statue of Liberty in New York. Dimensions cm. 5.5 x 7 x 1.8. Weight gr. 105. Designed by Giorgio Salimbeni in 1975 in Art Deco style and executed in numerous specimens, at the specific request of the firm Tiffany & Co., in Florence in the headquarters of the Salimbeni firm with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for sustaining numerous high-fire enamelled firings at approximately 750 < 800° C. Miniature is a very ancient technique which consists of painting works in small proportions. It was born for the decoration of the first letter of the paragraph of the books. Over the years, however, this technique is refined and enriched, then moving on to precious personal items. Hand-painted miniatures can be done with multiple different techniques. The most important that we use on our articles are of three kinds: 1) Fire enamel. 2) Water tempera on an ivory plate. 3) Painted on mother-of-pearl. Fire enameled miniatures: On a first layer of enamel generally white or very clear or even transparent suitably liquefied at a temperature of about 750° C, the chosen subject is painted using miniature colors which are as many colored crystals, ground and reduced to a very fine, almost impalpable powder washed and purified in distilled water with the addition of small quantities of deoxidizing acids which, diluted with essential oils (usually essential oil of solder), can be mixed to form a palette of colors. With very fine sable hair brushes you draw the subject starting from the perimeter and then gradually adding various layers of color. It is necessary to carry out various firings very often so that the colors harden and are not absorbed by the underlying glaze as, during the subsequent firings at 750 ° C, during liquefaction, it would spread irremediably. Hence the need to form the painting a little at a time, cooking it numerous times. Therefore it is necessary to proceed with numerous retouching, often overlapping different colors that only the painter's experience knows. A beautiful miniature needs from 20 to over 50 firings and is finished when the painter deems he does not have to further intervene. Some colors must have darker tones than others because then, by superimposing the transparent enamel placed at the end of the miniature, they fade. This transparent layer, called “fondant” in jargon, must be smoothed and polished like all other translucent enamel colors. The miniatures with water tempera colors are painted on real...

Rectangular shaped table box with finely embossed and hand-chiseled lid in Baroque style. Velvet interior. Dimensions cm. 11.7 x 21 x 4.5. Weight gr. 1000. Designed by Giorgio Salimb...

This is a well relief carved Jewelry box. It was probably made on the west coast of Africa. It looks to depict the heads of 3 Jaguars in relief.

A French Provençale carved walnut farinerio decorative box from the 19th century with floral motifs. This petite French box, called a fariniero, was intended to be used to coat fish,...

Shaped box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with painted fire enamels like lapis lazuli stone and beautiful miniature hand painted by the painter Beatrice Mellana reproducing ...

Exceptionally detailed 19th century carved bone gunpowder flask Italian, 19th Century Height 36cm, diameter 11cm This unconventional gunpowder flask, created in Italy in the 19th ce...