Micromosaic is a technique in which tiny coloured glass 'tessarae' are placed with tweezers on a surface coated with a slow drying adhesive. The variety of colours available allowed artists to reproduce the tonal range of oil paintings with an extraordinary degree of detail. It was a speciality of Italian workshops, especially in Rome. The subject of a fox attacking an animal was a popular one, probably taken from the paintings of Wenceslaus Peter.

The sides and base are decorated with a geometric pattern in niello. Niello is an alloy of silver, copper, lead and sulphur. It is applied into incised lines on a metal surface and then fired to produce a glossy black appearance.

An inscription records that the box was a gift to the Earl of Hopetoun from George Onslow Deane. John Adrian Louis, the earl of Hopetoun was a lord of waiting to Queen Victoria and subsequently served three years as governor of Victoria, Australia. In 1895, he became paymaster general in London and served for two years before returning to Australia as the first governor-general of the Australian Commonwealth. He resigned his post after five years, citing the insufficient rate of pay.

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.