Provenance

Shakespeare is known to have had a black mulberry tree in the garden of his home, New Place in Stratford on Avon, widely believed to have been planted by the playwright himself. The tree was cut down in 1756 and the wood apparently used to create a wide range of objects from tables to small boxes over the next fifty years. Some of the attributions to Shakespeare’s mulberry tree are likely to have been erroneous.

The box is one of three acquired by George IV and one of a small group of snuff boxes retained in the Collection by William IV after his brother's death (the majority of George IV's collection was given to the royal goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge & Rundell after the King's death, to defray the huge debt owed by him).