A shaped oval gold box, chased with scenes of sailing ships and classical architecture amid scrolls, in low relief, on a matted ground, on the hinged lid and around sides; with a reeded thumbpiece and egg and dart moulding to the lower border.

The finely chased marine scenes on the lid and sides of the box are reminiscent of the paintings of Claude Lorrain, the seventeenth-century French painter whose work reached unprecedented levels of popularity in England during the eighteenth century.

The close similarity in shape, decoration and chasing between this box and RCIN 3926 suggest that they were both from the same workshop, which appears to have employed a chaser of either French or German origin. Although this example lacks any royal iconography, it was possibly a gift to a member of the household of the young Prince George (later George III). Thomas Townshend, later Viscount Sydney, was Clerk of Prince George’s Household from 1756. No direct reference is made on the box to his family, but it was known to have been in the Sydney family until it was presented to King George V in 1893.

Text adapted from The First Georgians; Art and Monarchy 1714 - 1760, London, 2014.