This small silver box takes the form of a table in miniature, standing on four hoof feet with a hinged top that lifts to reveal a gilt interior underneath. The lid is embossed with scrolling foliage framing a classical garden scene of women at leisure, done in the Neoclassical taste that German silversmiths in Hanau were particularly known for reproducing throughout the nineteenth century.
Hanau built its reputation on close imitation of earlier French and English silver styles, and pieces made there were regularly exported and stamped with British import marks once they reached London — this one carries a full London hallmark for 1899, along with the mark of the importer, John George Smith, who brought it into the country. It's a reminder that "Victorian silver" often had a longer, more international route to the dressing table than the hallmark alone suggests.
