Description:
JB439: Brass edged and inlaid solid rosewood box suitable for jewelry having inset brass carrying handles, working Bramah lock  with key  and a separately locked drawer. There is an adjustable mirror in the lid. The main section of the box has several sections some with supplementary lids. Circa 1825.

Origin: UK

Circa: 1825

Size: 28.5 cm wide by 21.3 cm by 13.7 cm:  11.2 inches wide by 8.3 inches by  5.4 inches.

Condition: Good overall working locks with keys.

The adjustable mirror in the lid is of an unusual design..

The box on account of being constructed of solid rosewood and thick gage brass is both heavy and robust. It was designed to survive traveling in the 19th C.

The brass inlay uses stylized fleur-de-lis,  a motif close to the heart of the Prince Regent (King George IV) who saw himself as a monarch in the style of the French Bourbons.

The use for ornamental or symbolic purposes of the stylised flower usually called fleur de lis is common to all eras and all civilizations. It is an essentially graphic theme found on Mesopotamian cylinders, Egyptian bas-reliefs, Mycenean pottery, Sassanid textiles, Gaulish and Mameluk coins, Indonesian clothes, Japanese emblems, and Dogon totems. The many writers who have discussed the topic agree that it has little resemblance to the lily, but they disagree as to whether it derives from the iris, the broom, the lotus, or the furze; others believe it represents a trident, an arrowhead, a double axe, or even a dove or a pigeon. It is in our opinion a problem of little importance. The essential point is that it is a very stylised figure, probably a flower, that has been used as an ornament or an emblem by almost all civilizations of the old and new worlds. See:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur-de-lis 

The main section of the box has several sections some with supplementary lids.

 The box has a separately locked drawer of dovetail construction.

 The box has two keys; one is for the main Bramah lock the other is for the drawer.

 The box has a mechanism  which keeps the lid open. To close the box this is pressed together.

The main lock on the box is made by Bramah. It is stamped Bramah with three crowns.

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