HISTORY:
We are cleaning out our "overgrown" collection of UK (mainly) chinaware because we have quality chinaware coming out of our ears!
We have collected quite a bit of Wedgwood over the years but we prefer "old" Wedgwood and in particular Jasperware, Yellow & Red being our favourites. As often happens, we ended up buying other Wedgwood over the years which really does not fit with our primary interest, Jasperware.
The Napoleon series design from Wedgwood was based on the dinner set used by Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1800's while in exile at St. Helena after the defeat at Waterloo by the Duke Of Wellington's army.
We do like hand decorated pieces and this is definitely hand decorated, which is quite unusual for a '70s piece of chinaware.
As to the functionality, well ... we adapted this trinket box to suit our needs! Wherever possible we like to try and use our chinaware instead of it just sitting idly in the display cabinets so this trinket box was used for a while to keep some of my wife's jewellery but she soon 'outgrew' it and until recently it was instead used on the dining table as a small sweets dish for the visiting grandchildren (and adults who were also tempted!)
Perhaps the owner may have another purpose in mind, it is a small lidded box after all ... I know of some people who used these boxes to keep their cigarettes (in days gone by ... remember when cigarette holders abounded, some of them were very fancy and expensive!) but of course these days, smoking accessories are not very culturally acceptable.
The 'trinket' box is in very good condition, even after the occasional use, read on for the full description of this Wedgwood
WEDGWOOD - Trinket Box
Series: Napoleon's Ivy
Circa early 1970's
Made in England (NOT a third party such as China!)
HAND DECORATED (painted) with artists 'marks' under the lid
NO gaudy Gold gilding is used
When we first obtained this box and considering the age from which it came, our first thought was "hmmmm...transferware" but in fact we looked closely and on the underside of the lid are two separate artists marks (actually the letters R & B in colours matching the artwork) and after a very close examination of the leaves (in particular) I can see little "woopsies" here and there, where the artist brush didn't stay within the outline.
Basic two colour artwork is skillfully created, but not 'perfect' such as would be the case with transferware.
DIMENSIONS:
130mm wide x 95mm deep x 30mm height (without the lid fitted) or 40mm with the lid 'on'
Yes, the box will only hold a few sweets! (Roses chocolates - yummy!)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
NO chips
NO base colour (Bright White) discolouration
NO cracks
NO damage to the artwork
On the underside of the lid are two artist marks, these being
R (Brown)
R or B (Green)
Perhaps the same artist but the Green 'R' is formed in a slightly different way
Looking closely at the artwork (magnifying glass) you will see the Brown outlines of the leaves for example, these are then infilled by the Green leaf colouring and it is generally the Green that misses the mark in some places and is painted outside of the Brown outline area. Also in some areas I can see the Brown & Green areas 'merge' whereas they should have been simply butted up against each other.
These "flaws" all point to this box having been decorated by a living and breathing human being (most artists were females) and not a 'machine creation'
Even the chinaware could have been hand made as the lid is a 'loose' fit to the base and it has a slight unevenness to the fitting between the lid and the base.
SPECIAL NOTE:
On the underside are the expected backstamps but also 4 little 'dimples' much like fleabites but they are not! They are circular and something like a depression in the glazing, laid out symmetrically in a triangular shape with the 4th dimple sitting right on top of the word WEDGWOOD. I believe these four dimples were created as part of the manufacturing process and they are too well organised to be random 'fleabites'
