exquisite georgian bilston enamel patch box circa 1780

Description

This delightful 18th Century South Staffordshire Bilston * enamel patch box dates circa 1780. The white screw-top cover charmingly decorated with a leaping doe and her fawn. The base a delicate powder blue enamel colour.
Dimensions:
Diameter 2.5cm / 1 inch.
Height: 1.5cm / 0.4 inches.
Condition:
In good condition for this type of object.
Some grazing on the lid, commensurate with age.
No loss of enamel.
Base in very good condition, the bases of these boxes are very often chipped.
* 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. Bilston enamellers were particularly partial to rose pink.
There were patch and snuff boxes, boxes for trinkets and jewellery, bonbonnieres. These boxes became, with the advent of transfer printing, little gift boxes given as token of love and friendship or souvenirs from various towns.
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: JANV93