Belgium - Boxes

Elegant mid-20th century decorative box in polished onyx, beautifully inlaid with various semi-precious stones such as lapis lazuli, jasper, marble, and agate. The geometric pietra d...

Vintage Italian jewelry box, trinket box made of beautiful brown veined alabaster with gold-colored copper-plated paw prints and trim. A beautiful and high-quality object from the se...

Vintage cigarette case or jewelry box made of natural onyx stone, decorated with gold-colored (copper-plated) metal fittings, Italian in origin, marked G.S.E. Ottone Garantito, circa...

Antique Anglo-Indian pen box with hidden drawer, made of wood and brass, featuring a central blank brass cartouche, circa first half of the 20th century. This beautiful box is of hi...

“Cannabis” or “The World of Plants” by Line Vautrin, gilded bronze box. “Finely chiseled gilt bronze box, the lid depicting a central plant whose leaves, veins, and roots radiate sym...

Sewing Box by Belgian Brand Torck Creator: Torck (Manufacturer) Dimensions: 47x40cm H:60 cm - Total Height: 80 cm Style: Art Deco Place of Origin: Belgium Period: 1930-1939 Embroid...

A beautiful, antique French jewelry box, very heavy, made of patinated copper-plated metal, shaped like a table, with a hinged lid and a central medallion depicting a Greek-style fem...

Porcelain bronze mounted box, Art Nouveau style Made of hand-painted crackled, glazed high quality bronze mounted porcelain. Signed on the bottom. An all over polychrome floral deco...

Very Decorative Box in Leather and Metal Studs, Europe, 1950s. This mid-century decorative box is clad in warm brown leather and features intricate stud detailing. The box has a dom...

Box - Decoration - 1950s Measures : 17x9cm H: 5,5cm Bronze turtle-shaped trinket or jewelry box. Material: Solid cast bronze. Function: Can be used as a trinket box, jewelry box, or...

Empreinte (footprint), gilded bronze powder compact by Line Vautrin. Powder compact with a highly chiseled lid representing a hand located in the center of a fingerprint. The wolf ma...

A complete malachite box from around 1930 in a hexagonal shape, with a loose lid This is the kind of malachite what's coming from Congo the box meassures 8.2 x 8.2 cm and has a tota...

Nice Odette Dijeux mid-century decorative box, circa 1950, Belgium. White and brown enameled ceramic. Signed underneath Odette Dijeux . Each piece of this artist is unique and po...

Old Chinese wooden jewelry box with brass fittings and a jade plaque centrally placed on the lid, inside a pink/fuchsia lining with gold floral decoration, second half of the 20th ce...

Wedgwood Jasperware Lidded box, England, 20th century. This is a quintessential piece of Wedgwood Jasperware. Lidded box in the famous Jasperware blue and white decor. Neo-classic...

This very old wonderful box is carved in solid wood. It can be closed by a beautiful polished mother of pearl shell. This box could be of the hand of Alexandre Noll (1890-1970), but ...

Italian music box table in the Sorrento style, wooden table with floral inlay. The top folds open, and inside are plastic compartments covered ...

Reeds with Human Faces and The Riverbed, a set of two boxes. (Les roseaux à visage humain et le lit de la rivière) by Line Vautrin. Set of two gilt bronze boxes, titled Reeds with Hu...

Michael Elkan Box in Live Edge Maple Burl American Craft Movement 1980s This is a truly wonderful trinket or jewelry box in maple burl made by renowned American Craft Movement wood ...

Faux Tortoise Decorative Box in the style of Hermes, 1970s Hollywood Regency - Vintage - Design The chic pattern has been popular in interiors for centuries. Measures : 23x13cm H:6cm...

Line Vautrin was inspired by the Armenian alphabet to create this very pretty compact whose lid and reverse are entirely carved with the characters o...

A beautiful French jewelry box, trinket box, or ash tray shaped like an apple with branches and leaves; featuring the typical floral and organic Art Nouveau style, circa 1920. This ...

Lovely Lidded Art Deco Ceramic Box 1930s This is a wonderful lidded ceramic art deco box. Great design and lovely colors - a true modernist piece with a lot of elegance. Would be gr...

19th century non-combustible cast-iron travel strongbox by Bauche-Fichet, France Antique travel safe in non-combustible cast iron from northeastern France (Gueux, Marne). It is decor...

Rare Nuremberg wrought-iron casket, dating from the early 17th century. Rectangular in form, it is constructed from riveted iron plates and fitted with a slightly domed lid, topped w...

Beautiful Line Vautrin signed bronze beauty or compact box, circa 1940, France. Gilt bronze, with inscribed the first 2 lines of the poem "Green" by Paul Verlaine, and decor of hear...

Art Deco - Box - Decorative Box Materials: Macassar wood and nickel-plated metal Measures : 13x11cm H: 4.5cm Superb quality, the best of French Art Deco. There is no visible designe...

Beautiful antique tramp art box with mirrored panels on the sides and top, pointed feet and a triangular lid, partly covered with green velvet inside and decorated with a small mirro...

The metalwork displays a richly elaborate decoration composed of rose garlands, foliage, scrolling motifs, and finely ornamented circular medallions, executed with silver and brass i...

Rare Chinese opium smoker's kit, including a lacquered boiled cardboard pillow-box and a pipe showing signs of intensive use. The pipe fits perfectly inside the box. The curved shape...

Vintage trinket, trinket box made of inlaid camel bone, purple velvet inside, with a brass clasp, India, 70s. Beautiful and qualitatively made with brass inlaid details, the object ...

Porcelain lided box decorated with the iconic Flora motif : Pretty porcelain box whose lid is decorated with the morif "Flora". The edge of the lid and t...

Mid Century Italian Box in Carved Alabaster and Brass 1950s Small lidded box constructed in carved alabaster with a rectangular form and softly rounded body. The surface is worked w...

Swedish antique pine hand crafted wooden barrel. Made to be used as a washing basin or a grain storage. Fine quality of bentwood. It is a true piece from the early 19 century. Beaut...

Beautiful old tramp art box, jewelry box or trinket, trinket box, made in the first half of the 20th century, Belgium. Beautiful form of folk art, anyone could make a tramp art obje...

Vintage Industrial compact four drawer Oak archive cabinet, storage desk organizer, 1930s. Dimensions:H.30cm-W.40-D.60 cm

Marius-Ernest Sabino, the sculptor who became a master glassmaker of Art Deco The year is 1878, Marius-Ernest Sabino was born in Sicily, in the town of Acierale (Italy). In 1882, his...

Zimmermann Stuttgart Iron Box in Patinated Metal 1930s. Heavy and beautifully patinated iron box / safe made by the renowned company Zimmermann of Stuttgart in Germany. Early 20th c...

A beautiful antique 19th century Capodimonte porcelain jewelery box in high relief and hand painted decoration with bronze gilt frame 10.5 x 7.5 cm, height 3.4 cm Perfect condition, ...

Rare Gothic forged iron casket, made in France in the mid-15th century, displaying remarkable ironwork and openwork decoration characteristic of the late medieval period. The rectang...

Antique Chinese leather box - circa mid-19th century This antique Chinese box was handcrafted from leat Measures : 22x13cm H:8cm Materials...

Measures : 18x8 cm H:8cm Materials : Gold Plate,Silver Plate,Steel,Cast,Hand-Crafted Silver-plated peanut-shaped box by FB Rogers, believed to be from the 1960s. Made of silver-plat...

A black paper mache box with the portrait of Tsarina Alexandra, wife of Tsar Nicholas II , the last tsar of Russia this box is from the early 1900 10.5 x 6.2 cm, heigth 3 cm

“Heureux parmi la foule” (Happy among the crowd), silvered bronze box by Line Vautrin. Generously sized silvered bronze box. The lid carved with a decoration of a multitude of faces,...

La prière de Saint François d’Assise (The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi), gilt bronze box by Line Vautrin. Large gilt bronze box whose lid is engraved with a large extract from t...

Leather trunk Spanish, 17th century Boiled Leather, wood and iron Measures: 22 x 53 x 32 cm. Provenance : - collection Metz-Noblat, Château de Clevant, France Rectangular trunk of the form and size of a small suitcase with wrought iron hinges and lock-plate. Wood, covered with leather, cut and embossed with every surface of the thick cow hide covered in interlace, zoomorphic features. The construction method is boiled leather, often referred to by its French translation cuir-bouilli: a process used to change flexible, vegetable-tanned leather into rigid, moulded objects. For shaping of the vegetable-tanned leather, heat and moisture were used, as indicated by the term boiled leather. No written medieval sources describing the production of decorated cuir bouilli objects survive, so knowledge of the process relies on the important studies of the Scottish leather historian John William Waterer. A large range of methods, materials and techniques could be used in various combinations. The vegetable-tanned leather, made supple with moisture and heat, was stuffed, shaped and nailed to the rigid wooden coffer support. The stuffing material was probably modeled beeswax or stearin wax. To shape the leather, to create its topography, « Cushions » were made by lacing a thread through an awl hole and attaching the flexible leather and stuffing to the rigid wooden support on the bottom. Then the decoration was done: lines were incised through the upper layer of the leather (epidermis) with different thicknesses of knives or needles. Contours were created with deep v-shaped cuts, decoration with thin incision and final details with a needle point. For the incision and pouncing stage, the leather was probably kept heated and moistened for suppleness. Once dry, the leather would be hard and rigid. the saturated leather is worked over a form, possibly even damp sand, with the pattern shaped using bone or wooden tools. Compare to metal, leather was lighter and it offered protection from cuts and punctures. Cuir bouilli objects were produced by specialist leather workers and needed skillful craftsmanship. The surface is filled with roundels shaped foliages enclosing animals, lions and peacocks. The foliate arabesques creating a vegetal connection tweet the animals create the impression of a lush verdant space . The vegetal pattern here employed in combination with geometrical pattern came from the pre-islamic artistic traditions of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires. An aspect of Islamic geometry Is the basic symmetrical repetition and mirroring of the shapes that create a sense of harmony. The decoration of this truck is inspired by the islamic « arabesque » a form of vegetal ornament composed of spirals, intertwining plants and abstract curvilinear motifs. An arabesque character is given to the birds of the decorations through extreme stylisation. This arabesque maintained the classical tradition of median symmetry, freedom in Detail and heterogeneity of ornament. The presence of the peacocks is a paradisiacal allusion: in popular Islamic literature they were among the original inhabitants of the garden of Paradise expelled with Adam and Eve. Peacock as a decorative motif may have originated in the West, despite their eastern provenance. There was an ancient belief that the flesh and feathers of peacock do not decay. This led to the peacock becoming a christian symbol for Christ’s resurrection. Renowned for their decorative wall hangings, seventeenth-century Spanish leatherworkers also produced utilitarian objects, such as this trunk. A similar trunk is on display at the Metropolitan museum of art ( 09.158.1). Related literature : Davies L. 2006. Cuir bouilli. Conservation of leather and related materials, 94-102, Oxford: elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann Grabar, Oleg. The Mediation of Ornament. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992 Gabriela Germana Roquez, "El mueble en el Peru en el siglo XVIII...

Swedish antique pine and birch wooden backpack storage box. It was use to pickup the berries in the woods. Fine quality of birch bentwood. It is a true piece from the early 19 centur...

La Sirène au Bateau (The mermaid with the boat) by Line Vautrin, silvered bronze box. Silvered bronze box whose lid is decorated with a Mermaid carrying a boat at arm’s length. This ...

Decorative Art Deco Style Lidded Box in Wood and Silver 1970s. A very interesting and beautiful lidded box with an art deco inspired lid in silver. Great abstract and timeless desig...

“Le lion” gilt bronze compact by Line Vautrin. Gilt-bronze compact depicting a stylised lion’s head in relief, surrounded by small arrow-like marks. This motif belongs to the talisma...

“Allez laissez couler les jours”, gilt bronze compact by Line Vautrin. Gilded bronze compact with a rebus-decorated lid, enhanced with hot-fired enamel, by Line Vautrin. The finely s...

Arts & Crafts Box with Decorative Hand made marquetry Decor, circa 1910 About: A wooden box from the Arts & Crafts period, Made in Austria. Very Small piece of marketery is missing...

“La Dame à la Licorne” (The Lady and the Unicorn), silvered bronze box by Line Vautrin. Crafted in silvered bronze, this rectangular box features a highly poetic relief design. On it...

Aime Tant et Plus (Love so much and more), gilt bronze box by Line Vautrin. Gilded bronze box with a rebus message chiseled on the lid that can be interpreted as follows: M for AIME ...

J’ai perdu ma tourterelle (I lost my dove) by Line Vautrin – Box in silvered bronze. J’ai perdu ma tourterelle (I lost my dove) Box in silvered bronze by Line Vautrin. Large silvered...

An oil-painted wooden box in the Art Nouveau style, early 20th century. Old patina. The key is missing. 11.5 x 23.5 cm, height 5.5 cm.

Antique Chinese Opium Box in Cloisonné Enamel, decorated with Floral Motifs and Interior Scenes French Private Collection

Embriachi workshop marquetry casket Northern Italy, 15th century Alla certosina inlays (bone, stained bone, pewter and wood) H 28.2 x W 18 x D 14 cm This beautiful casket of rectangular form is richly decorated with the characteristic geometric patterns of the Embriachi style. The intricate geometric patterns are fashioned by juxtaposing lighter and darker pieces of wood, (colored) bone, horn and pewter. The lid and base are framed by a broad band of horn. When ivory became scarce in Europe due to disrupted trade routes, bone was substituted. The attention to Symmetry and balance created an harmonious visual effect Enhancing the overall aesthetic appeal of the casket. The application of geometrical motifs is in Italy known as marquetry ‘alla Certosina’, named after the Certosina Church in Pavia with its famous altarpiece decorated in this way. This is ‘intarsia technique’, a term derived from the Arabic 'tarsi', which means ‘incrustation' recalling ancient mosaics made from various materials. These geometric elements not only enhance the aesthetic appeal of the caskets but also demonstrate the versatility and skill of the artisans in creating multifaceted works of art. ‘Alla Certosina’ became famous through the Northern Italian Embriachi family who achieved a particularly high standard in working in this technique. Venice in particular was known for the production of these luxurious boxes. The caskets, hexagonal or rectangular, surmounted by a lid decorated in several registers constitute the secular, albeit equally renowned component of the workshop’s production, in addition to mirror frames and various everyday objects. The method of fabrication of those objects was based on two concepts that underlay pre-industrial production: standardization and modularity, thanks to a distribution of skills according to the different phases of fabrication. even the realization of the marquetry motifs (in the form of ingots from which portions of the desired size were cut) were therefore entrusted to various specialized craftsmen, as were the assembly phase. Today better known thanks to the extensive research work recently carried out by Michele Tomasi, this workshop owes its name to its founder and owner, the Florentine Baldassare Ubriachi (or degli Embriachi), a merchant and banker established in the Tuscan capital before he settled in Venice in 1395. Together with sculptor Giovanni di Jacopo, who directed the workshop, from the last years of the fourteenth century, Baldassare oversaw a production that was truly original, and still easily recognizable today, comprising monumental altarpieces and various objects, primarily triptychs and caskets. The precise location of the workshop is unknown, except that it originated in Florence and in ca. 1431 there was apparently a workshop in Venice, in the area of S Luca. They employed local workers specializing in 'certosina' (inlay of stained woods, bone and horn), and the workshop produced items carved in bone (usually horse or ox) with wood and bone marquetry. The geometric decoration of Embriachi caskets reflects the artistic complexity and attention to detail that characterized their work. this inlaid casket is a testament to the skill and artistry of the Embriachi family and serves as a stunning example of the decorative arts of the late Middle Ages. Related Literature : E. Berger, Prunk-Kassetten: Europäischen Meisterwerke aus acht Jahrhunderten / Ornamental Caskets...

Puzzle by Line Vautrin – Box in gilded bronze Large and wide box in gilded bronze whose lid is carved with a puzzle by Line Vautrin. The chiselled puzzle p...

“L’altruisme est amour” (Altruism is love) by Line Vautrin, gilt bronze box. Gilt bronze box, the lid finely chiseled with a rebus. The rebus can be deciphered as follows: * The ins...