This box - made 1760-61 by Jean Ducrollay, one of the foremost box makers of his age - is an early example of the new taste for neo-classical rather than rococo ornament. In 1763, Baron de Grimm wrote of the new style 'Nos petits maîtres se croiraient deshonorés de porter une boîte qui ne fut pas à la grecque' (Our fops would be ashamed to parade about without a box in the Greek style).

The 1759 design, by Pierre-Philippe Choffard, is in an album, now in the V&A (museum no. E.897-1988) associated with the Ducrollay, Drais and Ouizille workshops. It is a very rare example of a design which can be matched to a surviving box. The drawings were presented to patrons or to the marchands merciers, luxury merchants specialising in a range of goods. Once approved, the design would be made up into a box, incorporating any particular modifications required by the customer.

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.