Counter box, containing four smaller boxes, of shaped form, painted with green vernis Martin and decorated with a mythological scene, possibly Ceres with the old woman.

Counter box, containing four smaller boxes, of shaped form, painted with green vernis Martin and decorated with a mythological scene, possibly Ceres with the old woman.
The box had a hinged lid. It is of overall rectangular form with outset, rounded and indented corners, with painted and gilded decoration on a green ground, the main panel showing an old woman and a young girl, set against a classicised landscape. The scene is framed with a frame of gilded scrolls centreing on a hatted bust with crossed trumpets above and a female mask below. The sides are painted with sprigs of flowers (roses, narcissus, carnations, columbine, harebell etc.) in natural colours on a greeny-brown ground. This decoration is continuous over the box and lid. The box is lined with pink satin. The base is divided into four, each section fitted with small boxes of similar form, containing mother-of-pearl gaming counters in three shapes - roundels, fishes, and rectangles with a triangular indentation on the shorter sides.
The four small boxes are identical in shape but differ in decoration; they are painted deep pink within; the base us lined on the side with card, that rises higher than the wooden sides to locate the lid when closed.
A shows the Rape of Europa and contains 31 fish and 6 rectangles
B shows young woman seated by a lake, with a Cupid holding up a shield with Sun in Splendour
C shows a young girl attached by a snake held by a Cupid, and contains 13 fish, 1 roundel and 3 rectangles
D shows a seated female in a landscape, with Cupid offering a basket of roses, and contains 8 fish, 1 roundel and 8 rectangles.
The base of the main panel is painted black.

This small box is fitted inside with four smaller boxes, which hold mother-of-pearl gaming counters. The ability to play cards well was considered an essential part of polite living in the 17th and 18th centuries throughout Europe. Card tables and boxes for gaming counters were luxury items and were ingeniously decorated in a variety of materials. This box and its inner boxes were decorated in vernis Martin, a French version of the varnish painting known in England as japanning. In both cases, the painting was intended to imitate Asian lacquer, although the subjects were frequently European in subject matter. On this box and the smaller ones contained within, the decoration relates loosely to a number of mythical stories. The image on the main box may show Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, whose daughter Proserpine was carried off to the underworld by Pluto. Ceres wandered the world looking for her daughter. On one occasion she was given a drink by an old woman – perhaps the one shown here.

W.19 to D-1914