rare georgian bilston enamel scent bottle etui with original glass scent bottle circa 1780

Description

This is a delightful and very rare 18th Century Bilston * enamel scent bottle etui. The cylindrical body with screw-top lid. The lid in the form of a flower bud opening to reveal the orignal cut glass scent bottle and stopper.
Dimensions:
Height: 8cm / 3 inches.
Diameter: 1.5cm / 0.5 inches.
Condition:
In remarkably good condition for this type of object.
Minor grazing, commensurate with age.
A little loss at the base.
* By the early 18th Century the town of Bilston, on the southern edge of Wolverhampton, was already established as a metal-working centre. The next step for these manufacturers of artefacts such as buckles, boxes and toy was get ahead of their competitors by decorating them. So they turned to enamels.
The technique of enamelling is applying heat to a mixture of silica, soda, potassium silicates and lead oxide, the enameller produced a paste which could be painted on to metal surfaces. Different colours could be created by introducing various metallic oxides into the mixes.
Enamellers often collected broken glasses from pubs and inns to grind them into the paste, but there were already, by the mid-1750s, suppliers selling coloured enamel powders already mixed.
There were patch and snuff boxes, boxes for trinkets and jewellery, bonbonnieres, etuis.
Postage:
PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO ADD POSTAGE AT CHECKOUT.
Postage UK: �8 Special Delivery Next day.
Postage overseas: �18 International Signed For.
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Internal Ref: DEC76