Tunbridge Ware Needlework Box 6229

A fine quality Tunbridge Ware needlework box veneered in burr yew with an oval print featuring Minerva, who stands with her spear and shield mounted with a Gorgon's head, in front of a young man sleeping at her feet. Minerva is protecting him from the influence of Venus, who sits amongst the clouds with Cupid, poised with his arrows of love.

Surrounding the print is a simple garland inlay of harewood, which suggests that this box is probably by John Robinson, the only known Tunbridge Ware maker to have worked both in London and Tunbridge Wells. (An almost identical border is known on a labelled Robinson tea caddy). Harewood features in the borders on the box and in oval medallions on the frieze and is repeated in the interior with lift out boxes. Some original fittings still in place including whitewood thread barrels and two glass toilet water bottles. The original silver plated carrying handles are also in place.

An aid to identifying the print on this box is an engraving produced in a magazine of 1775 called The Copper-Plate Magazine or a Monthly Treasure. This engraving is entitled 'Minerva  Protecting Telemachus from the Shafts of Love', which refers to The Adventures of Telemachus, a didactic novel by the French theologian and author, Francois Fenelon. This book was written in 1693-94  and recounts the educational travels of Telemachus, son of Ulysses. Telemachus is accompanied by his tutor, Mentor, who is Minerva in disguise.

The Adventures of Telemachus proved to be best seller in France and abroad, with Fenelon's condemnation of war and a scathing attack of aristocratic court culture that dominated European societies.

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This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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