The tortoiseshell panels are taken from an earlier box, probably made around 1720. They form a curious mixture of Chinese and Roman figures, typical of the period when interest in the East, manifested as Chinoiserie, combined with the classical Baroque ornament favoured at the court of Louis XV. The decoration is formed used two techniques: piqué, in which tiny points of gold are set into the tortoiseshell, and encrusté, in which gold or silver plates are inlaid under pressure onto the heated shell.

Adrien-Jean-Maximilien Vachette made this box for the firm of Ouizille and Lemoine. It is characteristic of Vachette's desire to use unusual materials to decorate his boxes.

Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.