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Freedom Box

1794-1795 (hallmarked)
Artist/Maker
Morisset, James (maker)
Place of origin
London (assayed)

The freedom box was a characteristically English type. The document awarding Admiral Earl Howe the freedom of the City of London was presented in a gold box in 1794. The honour was to commemorate his blockade of French grain ships when Britain was at war with France after the French Revolution.

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.

Object details

Categories
Containers
Metalwork
Personal Accessories
Object type
Freedom box
Materials and techniques
Chased and engraved gold and enamel plaques
Gold
Enamel
Chasing
Engraving (Incising)
Enamelling
Brief description
Gold and enamel, London hallmarks for 1794-95, mark of James Morisset
Physical description
Rectangular, gold freedom box, the cover set with an enamel plaque painted with the arms of Howe, beneath an earl's coronet and above the motto UTCUNQUE PLACUERIT DEO, with supporters within an ermine mantle held by a figure of Fame; a seated figure of Britannia looks on from the left, within a chased gold border of swags and rosettes, a naval coronet at the top. The walls are chased with military trophies and pilasters and with four enamelled plaques: that on the front with the arms, crest and motto of the City of London; those on the sides with an H beneath an earl's coronet; and at the back with Neptune viewing a sea battle. The base is chased with further swags around a vacant rectangular reserve.
Dimensions
  • Width: 10.6cm
  • Height: 7.4cm
  • Depth: 3.6cm
Measured 29/01/24 IW
Marks and inscriptions
  • Engraved in the lid is the inscription: Le Mesurier Mayor/A Common Council holden in/the Chamber of the Guildhall of/the City of London on Wednesday/the eighteenth day of June 1794/Resolved Unanimously the Freedom/of this City be presented to the Right Honourable/Earl Howe, Admiral of the White Vice Admiral/of England, Commander of His Majesty's/Fleet in the Channel, in the testimony of the/grateful Sense this Court entertains of the/signal and important Victory obtained by/him on the 28th and 29th May and first/of this instant June, over the French Fleet/wherein a great part of their Squadron were/either taken or destroyed/Rix. (Commemorates the 'Glorious First of June', a naval battle fought between Britain and France off the coast of Brittany in 1794.)
  • London hallmarks for 1794-95
  • Mark of James Morisset
Gallery label
(2024)
13. Freedom box with the arms of Admiral Earl Howe
1794-95

London, England, James Morisset (1738-1815, goldsmith)
Gold, enamel
Commemorating the 'Glorious First of June', a naval battle fought between Britain and France off the coast of Brittany in 1794
Museum no. LOAN:GILBERT.387-2008
(16/11/2016)
12. Freedom box with arms of Admiral
Earl Howe
1794–95

London, England; mark of James Morisset (1738–1815)
Chased and enamelled gold, commemorating the ‘Glorious First of June’, a naval battle fought between Britain and France off the coast of Brittany in 1794
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.387-2008
(2009)
Freedom box with arms of Admiral Earl Howe
1794–5
London, England; mark of James Morisset (1738–1815)
Chased and enamelled gold, commemorating the ‘Glorious First of June’, a naval battle fought between Britain and France off the coast of Brittany in 1794
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.387-2008
Credit line
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Object history
Provenance: Admiral Earl Howe (1794) and thence by descent. Acquired by Arthur Gilbert from S.J. Phillips Ltd, London, 1994.
Subjects depicted
Coats of Arms
Fame
Britannia
Neptune
Summary
The freedom box was a characteristically English type. The document awarding Admiral Earl Howe the freedom of the City of London was presented in a gold box in 1794. The honour was to commemorate his blockade of French grain ships when Britain was at war with France after the French Revolution.

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.
Bibliographic references
  • Grimwade, Arthur. London goldsmiths, original registers at Goldsmiths' Hall and other sources, London: Faber, 1976. 728 p., ill. No. 1521. ISBN 0671105506
  • Blair, Claude. Three presentation swords in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a group of English enamels, London (Victoria and Albert Museum) 1972. Appendix II, no. 8, p. 46.
  • Truman, Charles.The Gilbert collection of gold boxes, volume II, London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., 1999, cat. no. 38, pp. 64-65. ISBN.0856675210
Other numbers
  • GB 189 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1996.537 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
  • 1996.791.1 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
  • MIN 26 - Arthur Gilbert Number
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
LOAN:GILBERT.387-2008

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Record createdJune 19, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O156572/freedom-box-morisset-james/
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