19th Century Large Chinoiserie Penwork Box Table with Mother-of-Pearl Inlay

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Wonderful example of a 19th century English painted chinoiserie penwork traveling box, black background with gold and black design, all … Read more Wonderful example of a 19th century English painted chinoiserie penwork traveling box, black background with gold and black design, all hand applied on white wood sycamore box with a quite beautiful shape. This is one of the best we have seen for a very long time and the quality of the work is very high. It's painted all round with a mixture of beautiful classical gold flora, fauna and designs with a black outline and background and gold trim. A mother-of-pearl inlay on the top has a penwork pagoda Theme. The interior is lined with a green fabric, the inside top has a classical penwork vase with flowers on a mahogany color background, inside includes a pen work covered lidded compartment and open tray area, and two bottom front doors with an open compartment inside. There is a lock in the top with original key. It is small enough to be used on top of a console table and large enough to be a side table or table between two chairs.
Penwork, or pen and Ink, was used on boxes to illustrate beautiful scenes and sometimes to record a visit to a foreign country or vacation. They can feature people, landscapes, birds, insects, plants, flowers, animals and some have prints of Greek mythology or of spa towns. These were all drawn very exact and beautifully finished with a shellac varnish. Some penwork would of been commissioned to professional artists, but the majority favored pass-time of ladies (the ladies were often skilled in the technique as the professionals!) It's because of this that we see many different examples of penwork. See less