Object number
M.2009.18
Title
Ladie's Patch Box
Date
1776 - 1790
Creator
Production reason
Container for ladies’ face patches
Production notes
Also described as Staffordshire on record?
Material
Size
Ht x W x D: 3 x 5.7 x 4.7 cm
circumference: 15 cm
Description
Enamel patch box with hinged lid. Oval form transfer printed, and hand painted with a cricket match. Image after Francis Hayman’s 'A Cricket Match at Mary-le-bone Fields'. Blue vertical swag and purple floral design around sides Appears to be a holiday souvenir as title ‘A Present from Sevenoaks/ Sevenoaks Vine’ written on lid. Metal hinge and fitting with polished steel mirror inside lid.
Similar object listed in Wisden Cricket Monthly July 1980
Display caption
This oval patch box with polished steel lid inside is made from enamelled copper and decorated with transfer printed scene after Francis’s Hayman’s painting ‘A Cricket Match at Mary-le-bone Fields’. The curved bats, underarm bowling and umpires holding bats are prominent features of the early game.
Transfer printing developed in England in the 1750s and is a mass-production method of applying an image to curved or uneven surface. The design is first engraved on a cooper plate and transferred onto a sheet of tissue paper. This is then placed on the ware in an unglazed state and fired to transfer the image. The ware is then glazed and fired again to make the image permanent.
Patch boxes held artificial beauty spots or ‘patches’ which were fashionable cosmetic items around 1700s. This one is inscribed 'A Present from Sevenoaks' and 'Sevenoaks Vine' and is an one of the earliest examples of a commercial cricketing souvenir.
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