Too Beautiful For Words (4)

S1. The Porcelain Parfum Flacon Box, Sèvres Style. The shape is the same urn shape we had in our first Porcelain Parfum Flacon but the painting on this one is quite a bit more complex. The painting is after a Francois Boucher and is of a lady and gentleman having a garden tryst. It is the type of painting that was used on many of the early Sèvres pieces, very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. This piece is from the late firm of Parry Vieille and was part of a Limited Edition of only 250 pieces. This is number 148 and is one of only a few pieces that are available in this painting style. (Our Importer was able to get only a few pieces of this and it will depend on how quickly you order as to whether or not they will have a reorder available.) The clasp is a 17th century woman dressed as they dressed then holding a parasol in one hand and with the other lifting her skirt to show her ankle. Retail: $205.00. Our price: $184.90.

S2. The Porcelain Parfum Flacon Box. This is our original urn shaped perfume flacon box done in new coloring. Still a very beautiful and elegant looking piece with an unusual clasp of a 17th century woman holding her parasol with one hand and raising her skirt with the other hand. Retail: $195.00. Our price: $175.90.

T. The Travel Dressing Case Box. (This box has been in stock for some time but until now had not made it into the catalog. It required just the right boxes as companions and, as you can see, we now have them. ) The box is double hinged, the front panel drops when the lid is raised to provide a tiny dressing table space. The inner lid has a mirror and the box holds a comb and brush both of which are dimensional and removable and done in gold with a floral detail. The exterior of the box is all gold with a very pretty floral spray in a cartouche both on the lid and all four sides of the base. The clasp is a wreath. Our price: $324.00. NEW Very unusual and the only one I have ever seen of it's kind.

U1. The Parfum Atomizer Box. Butterflies and flowers are the decor and inside a tiny flower. The clasp is unimportant. Our price: $197.90.

U2. The Parfum Atomizer Box. In pink with an elaborate wildflower floral. Our price: $194.90.

V. The Parfum Tantalus Box. This box has been made for more than 6 years and we have carried it for all of that time. A while back I decided to drop it from the catalog because it was such an old piece and I thought our collectors were all familiar with it but every time I decided not to order it again we received another request for it. I have never counted how many of this box we have sold but I am fairly certain that it is considerably more than any other box we have ever carried. The fact is that it is exquisitely made and beautifully painted and is still one of the finest of all perfume boxes. The detail on the box is superb from the beaded edge which is repeated in the beading of the metal frame to the porcelain frame that houses the jewel topped flacons. It is truly an elegant piece that has stood the test of time. Retail: $185.00. Our price $166.90. Encore performance. NOTE: This box is a Parry Vieille piece and there are only a few more available ever.

The following item is by Special Order only
W. Mr. Darcy's Eighteenth Century Bath Box. Last night I watched, for the umpteenth time, Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice". (The movie is in my personal library and if I need a quick "England fix" I watch it along with Emma and Sense and Sensibility" and that satisfies me every time.) Anyway, in it, Mr. Darcy, the enormously rich young gentleman, (he had an income of more than 10,000 pounds a year--no small amount when one realizes the pound was worth then at least $12.00) whom Elizabeth ultimately married, is shown in his bath. As the scene progressed I suddenly realized that the bath tub was identical in shape to one that I had recently purchased for the collection. I stopped the movie and rummaged through all of the new boxes waiting to be written up, and there it was, ours, in porcelain, the identical shape. And here it is! Ours comes complete with a bar of soap, dimensional and removable. It stands on sturdy legs and is deep enough to allow for a person to sit in it. There was no indoor plumbing in those days. The method used for providing hot water was a servant going back and forth from kitchen to bath with large ewers of hot water which were then poured over the bather. (Our collection does not include the servant, just the tub and soap.) The tub is done in a pale creamy yellow with light blue ribbons streamered around it. The soap is inside and the clasp is a French bow. Our price: $164.90. NEW

X. The Lady's Fan Box. Laying open on m'Lady's dressing table would have been a fan, something to match her costume for the evening. Because ventilation and room temperature were always a problem in those days, ladies carried and used fans. Ours is in pale blue with a lavender pansy blooming on it along with a passing dragon fly. Inside, the closed fan and the clasp a butterfly. Retail: $125.00. Our price: $112.90.

To find out more about ordering, Click Here

TOP of page