Description: Antique satinwood box studded with faceted cut steel decoration, having liftout trays secret compartment, and still retaining its original Tyrian (royal) purple velvet interior linings.

Origin: France (Palais Royal) or England.

Circa: 1790

Materials: Satinwood, faceted steel, rosewood,  purple velvet  leather and silk.

Size: 34.6cm wide by 23.1cm by 14cm:  13.6 inches wide by  9.1 inches by  5.5 inches.

Condition: Good over all especially considering age, working lock and key. There is some wear to the rare purple velvet and the leather linings. there are marks on the side indicating that the box perhaps had side handles. The holes have been filled with satinwood which matches the original. 

This is a rare sophisticated box.

Inside the box has a liftout tray lined with the original Tyrian purple velvet. The lid has a fold down flap containing a document wallet and also a free standing satinwood framed mirror (see below)

The use of steel as a medium of applied art was developed in Tula , in Russia , which already had a long tradition of metalworking, mainly for armory. Under the auspices of Catherine II, steel became a medium for fashioning both domestic and personal ornaments. In sewing it was used both for chatelaines and tools. The diamond faceted, jewel like steel pins were adopted by French workers for the fine Palais Royal boxes and to a lesser extent for other boxes.

This form of decoration was sparingly adopted in England , although, ironically, the steel heads were exported to France from the Northern English towns of Wolverhampton and Birmingham and from Woodstock in Oxfordshire. Perhaps it was the expressed realization of how much an old nail was worth once it was converted into a cut steel ornament, which put off the English; they preferred to sell their old nails to the French.

 

The Palais Royal area of Paris were justifiably exchanged as precious gifts at the end of the 18th and into beginning of the 19th century. During the short period of peace in the early 19th century and after the permanent peace of 1815, the English aristocracy rushed to France and indulged in quality shopping. The Palais Royal shops were a great attraction to the visitors. These establishments occupied a wing built in the 18th century by Louis Philippe d'Orléans, when he inherited the palace and gave it the name Palais Royal. Originally the palace was built for Richelieu and it was called Palais Cardinal.

See:  Antique Boxes, Tea Caddies, and Society, 1700--1880 
Antigone Clarke & Joseph O'Kelly, ISBN: 0764316885

The diamond faceted, jewel like steel pins were adopted by French workers for the fine Palais Royal boxes and to a lesser extent for other boxes.

Detail of the elaborate cut steel escutcheon.

Underneath the lift out tray is lined with blue leather. There is a smaller lift out tray which is lined with the original cream silk and has divisions for holding rings and earrings.

There is a secret movable panel of rosewood here shown closed. 

This is unusual in this type of box.

and here open. It is released by pressing the side.

There is a secret silk lined rosewood drawer which is revealed when the panel is removed.

 Detail of the lower liftout tray. The silk is in remarkably good condition for 200 years!

 The underside is lined with a silver and blue dot paper which is original and has almost no wear.

The upper tray is lined with Tyrian purple velvet. This has some staining and wear marks. However because  the historical importance of  this color I would not recommend replacement. The look is of sophisticated quality decadence.

From Wikipedia we learn:

"Tyrian purple (Greek: πορφύρα, porphura), also known as royal purple or imperial purple, is a purple-red dye made by the ancient Canaanites/Phoenicians in the city of Tyre, from a mucus-secretion of the hypobranchial gland of a marine snail known as Murex brandaris or the Spiny dye-murex.  

The fast, non-fading dye was an item of luxury trade, prized by Romans, who used it to colour ceremonial robes. Pliny the Elder described the dyeing process of two purples in his Natural History^[2]:

"'... the Tyrian hue ... is considered of the best quality when it has exactly the colour of clotted blood, and is of a blackish hue to the sight, but of a shining appearance when held up to the light; hence it is that we find Homer speaking of "purple blood'."

 There is a satinwood framed self standing t mirror which is stored behind the document wallet in the lid when not in use.

 Detail of the Document wallet which is made of subtly embossed blue leather.