20th Gallery Decorative Objects

Description: Rectangular silver-gilt cigarette box with engraved floral motifs and hinged lid. Metal: Silver. Origin: Portuguese. Mark: standing eagle. Weight: 265.89 grams. Dim...

French steel box from the 1930s. Green lacquered case with golden craquelé pattern. The cash register has a classic handle and a key to lock. Painted green in the interior and a shee...

To perpetuate the memorable wooden boxes at fairs in Brazil, the architect and designer Tiago Curioni, a Brazilian based in Portugal, recreated the glass boxes, in a limited series of 30 units. Named as Quitandeira, it has a system of glass rulers...

Beautiful and elegant, vintage Murano hand blown gold flecks Italian art glass vanity jewelry or powder box. The piece is attributed to designer Archimede Seguso. The entire piece is...

This beautiful, slender and museum quality French Art Deco "Cubist style" glass vase by Schneider is decorated with an "acid etched" slanted rectangular pattern on top and bands of a...

A beautiful hand-blown Italian Murano art glass and gold gilt metal vanity box, made in Italy. Murano glass exterior is matte in a pink grapefruit/blood orange hue, and lid is gold g...

A gorgeous box made of blue glass beautifully decorated with white details. Frame of brass. original lock and key. Made during 19th Century Russian Empire period. Small lockable boxes...

Antique Baccarat acid etched cameo glass box with leaf & vine motif and bronze mounts. Circa 1890 - 1910.

Kyohei Fujita exquisite molded hexagonal Liuli blown glass box with gold and silver leaf inclusions, Japan, 1995. Etched signature 'Kyohei Fujita' to underside. Literature: Fin Lyn...

This antique engraved sterling silver cigarette or decorative box was made in Japan in approximately 1900 in the period Japonisme style. The box is composed of an ebonized hardwood c...

Offered is a stunning Sheffield silver keepsake box dating to 1900, with associated hallmark. This small box includes a clean interior and rounded corners. The box is free of names or initials, but would have been used to house keepsakes such as jewelry or cufflinks. A well maintained, elegant piece, this antique silver box is an excellent addition to any silver collection. Trinket or keepsake boxes have taken on many forms since their first conception in ancient times. However their purpose remains the same; to store jewelry and other items precious to the owner. Originally, these boxes were used specifically for jewelry. These were in common use as early as 5000 BC in Ancient Egypt, when the majority of Egyptians, both male and female, wore jewelry. Boxes were used to keep these gemstone encrusted items safe. In Ancient Rome, jewelry was a status symbol. Rings and brooches were utilized to represent ones status in society. Again, boxes were needed for security and storage purposes. Finding early examples of these are quite rare. Victorian and Edwardian examples of trinket boxes are far more common. This is because owning jewellery was a luxury until the Victorian era- let alone possessing so much a box was needed to store it all. Fine jewelry and other items became available to the masses after the industrial revolution due to the reduction in production costs. This led to a demand for trinket boxes, which were much smaller than jewelry boxes and therefore better suited to the needs of the middle class who did not yet possess an abundance of jewelry. In Victorian households, collectables and other items of interested were also stashed inside these boxes. This is why they are known as trinket or keepsake boxes, rather than just jewelry boxes, although of course jewelry was also stored in them. Trinket boxes were produced in large numbers around this time. Many were lined with colored plush or velvet or rich wood. More elaborate designs had interior divisions and trays for rings and other pieces of jewellery. It was also common to see trinket boxes so small that they could only contain one item, such as a single ring. Ornate exteriors were created to reflect the value of the trinket boxes contents. The Edwardian era saw the introduction of new styles of trinket box. These included small circular or oblong boxes...

Lovely Art Deco small box designed by Curt Schlevogt. Model Sunflower.