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Box
ca. 1770 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Bonbonnières were small decorative boxes for comfits or sweets. Tiny lozenges flavoured with roses, violets, liquorice, mint or cloves would freshen the breath, calm a cough or settle a stomach. The boxes were inspired by porcelain versions from Meissen, Chelsea and the French soft-paste factories but the huge variety of novelty designs for enamelled bonbonnières was the result of the competitive imaginations of their West Midlands makers.
The design of bonbonnières often responded to a European taste for the ‘exotic’. This box sought to satisfy this demand by presenting the scene of a leopard attacking a black man on its lid. The leopard has pinned its victim to his back and closed its jaws around the man’s arm, from which blood pours. A witticism may have been intended as the man holds a bow in his right hand, suggesting that the hunter has become the hunted.
The design of bonbonnières often responded to a European taste for the ‘exotic’. This box sought to satisfy this demand by presenting the scene of a leopard attacking a black man on its lid. The leopard has pinned its victim to his back and closed its jaws around the man’s arm, from which blood pours. A witticism may have been intended as the man holds a bow in his right hand, suggesting that the hunter has become the hunted.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Painted enamels on copper. The embossed form achieved by the <i>repoussé</i> technique. The brown outlines of the lid design transfer-printed then overpainted. |
| Brief description | Bonbonnière, painted enamel embossed into the form of a black man attacked by a leopard, the lid transfer-printed in brown and overpainted in enamel colours with a leopard hunt. English (West Midlands), ca. 1770 |
| Physical description | Painted enamel box or bonbonnière embossed into the form of a leopard attacking a semi-naked black man who has been thrown onto his back and pinned down by the predator. The man holds a bow in his right hand. The leopard has his jaws around the man's right arm, from which blood pours. The cover bears a brown transfer-printed design, overpainted with washes of coloured enamels. It depicts a leopard, walking to its right, towards a black man who wears a white turban and aims an arrow at it from his bow. The scene is framed in scrolling. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Bequeathed by Miss M.D. Wood |
| Object history | Bequest of Miss M. D. Wood, Shropshire. |
| Historical context | This object type is often termed a bonbonnière, but it is not certain that this particular one would have been used specifically for small sweetmeats. It is as likely to have been a portable snuff box. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Bonbonnières were small decorative boxes for comfits or sweets. Tiny lozenges flavoured with roses, violets, liquorice, mint or cloves would freshen the breath, calm a cough or settle a stomach. The boxes were inspired by porcelain versions from Meissen, Chelsea and the French soft-paste factories but the huge variety of novelty designs for enamelled bonbonnières was the result of the competitive imaginations of their West Midlands makers. The design of bonbonnières often responded to a European taste for the ‘exotic’. This box sought to satisfy this demand by presenting the scene of a leopard attacking a black man on its lid. The leopard has pinned its victim to his back and closed its jaws around the man’s arm, from which blood pours. A witticism may have been intended as the man holds a bow in his right hand, suggesting that the hunter has become the hunted. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.84-1961 |
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| Record created | August 24, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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