Tulip and kingwood jewel casket in Louis XV style mounted with porcelain plaques; concave rectangular hinged top, the fall-front bearing an oval plaque depicting lovers; upon a stand with cabriole legs, the whole mounted with gilt bronze swags. Born in Germany, Levien began prospecting for exotic furniture timbers in South America and New Zealand, running a successful business in Wellington, before finally settling in London at 10 Davies Street, Grosvenor Square, in 1844. He obtained a Royal Warrant two years later and submitted four pieces of furniture to the Great Exhibition in 1851, although most of his output, especially that in the French style, seems to have employed conventional woods and not the exotic specimens which he originally used. The acquisition of this jewel-cabinet reflects the royal couple’s pronounced taste for porcelain-mounted furniture in the French style, as both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert favoured a modified Louis XV or Louis XVI style in certain rooms. The turquoise-bordered porcelain plaques, which are decorated in the Sèvres style with scènes galantes, birds and flowers in gilded cartouches, are likely to be of English manufacture. Text adapted from Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010