A pair of Charles II sterling silver chinoiserie toilet boxes, London circa 1680 by Ralph Leake (free 1671)

Of octagonal form with pull off gently domed lids with moulded rim and ovolo edge. Each box with flat chased chinoiserie decoration of figures. One a rural woman leaning on her staff before a gnarled tree, a vase with flowers upon a pedestal behind her, a bird in flight above. The other with a man carrying vessels upon a yoke, a younger attendant to his side, a bird in flight above. Each lid edge with flat chased stylised leafy forms interspersed at the corners with textured triangles. Each of the sides with foliage. Each with maker’s mark only to the base interior and lid interior. (2)

Length – 8.6 cm / 3.35 inches

Height – 3.9 cm / 1.25 inches

Weight – 289 grams / 9.29 ozt

Please see the final lot, as formally stuck with a later metal plate etched with “Certified by the Victoria and Albert Museum August 1961 Charles II 1665-1670 Maker Att to R. Leek [sic Leake]”.

Remains of trade wrappings for Arthur A. Berman Ltd, 18 Martin’s Street Leicester Square, London

Private English Collection

Dressing table sets are among the most frequently surviving elements of late 17^th century silverware, often highly embossed or as here, flat chased with chinoiserie, termed “Japann’d” at the time. Normally the gift of a groom to a new bride then likely passed from mother to daughter, these sets headed by a mirror and any number of caskets, pomatum pots, brushes, pincushions, and ecuelles, feature prominently in the history of silverware, such as the Calverley toilet service of 1683 by William Fowle (Victoria and Albert museum 240-1879). A contemporary account for such as service, is as follows “Recd. A comb box 2 powder 2 patch 2 Jessemy Boxes 2 candlesticks a Pincoshen 2 brushes as glass frame & Toppiece” Mitchell D. (1993), Dressing plate by the ‘unknown’ London silversmith ‘WF’, The Burlington Magazine, June 1993, p. 386.

Chinoiserie flat chased London silver chiefly found in the 1680’s is a particularly famous form of decoration and continues to be subject to further research. Several London maker’s marks are found on such plate with various levels of complexity to the decoration, leading to speculation did one workshop specialise in this work or was it all performed within the workshops as ascribed to the marks, the first seeming unlikely.

While one source for the foliage is drawn upon Johan Nieuhoff’s An Embassy to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperor of China (Amsterdam 1658, republished in London by John Ogilby in 1669). The possible sources of these more complex scenes represents a melange of late 17^th century decorative arts and trades, both imported and home produced, together they testify to a fantasy for the foreign that layered upon one another to form such a captivating zeitgeist. Upon discussing the potential for theatre to have been one such source of inspiration when describing the two mirror frames as part of the Oritz-Patino collection, Phillipa Glanville notes “the layout of motifs on the larger and more sophisticated objects, such as the Bodendick and Smithier mirror frames and the salvers, has the formality and the artificiality of an opera, masque or play staging. On the Smithier mirror (Victoria and Albert Museum), a Chinese temple at the rear is flanked by walls set with statues. Centre stage, a bird fountain spouts high in the air and tall ruined arches separate four gesticulating figures in Eastern costume. Are these derived from a lost series of theatre designs?”. ( Glanville, P., (1992), English 17^th Century Chinoiserie Silver, Sotheby’s New York The Jamie Oritz-Patino Collection May 21 1992).