Belgian Louis XIV Bois de Spa box

A richly decorated and highly detailed case, consisting of pearwood inlaid with engraved tin and mother-of-pearl. In the middle of the lid is a mother-of-pearl shield, flanked by elegant tin drapery that converges in a mascaron at the underside of the shield. To the left and right of the shield, mother-of-pearl putti bear aloft a festoon of fruit that stretches to the two upper corners. Additional decoration on either side of the shield includes a small dog and a mother-of-pearl sunflower, all encircled by elegant motifs of acanthus leaves and birds. All four sides of the lid are bevelled and decorated with mother-of-pearl flowers on tin branches with leaves and birds; the edges of the lid are inlaid with tin thread patterns in the shape of bows and dots.
The sides of the box feature an elegant composition of mother-of-pearl roses on tin acanthus leaves that meet in the lock plate at the front, where the leaves form a symmetric whole.

Around the middle of the seventeenth century, the Belgian town of Spa developed a market for finely decorated cases and other small ornamental objects decorated with metal and mother-of-pearl inlays. These objects are referred to as Bois de Spa or Jolités de Spa. The market was driven by the many wealthy spa guests who travelled to the town to take advantage of its medicinal springs. The craftsmanship originated in the Near and Middle East, where these techniques had been refined for several centuries before they were introduced to Europe by the Venetians. The motifs of the inlaid objects were based on the works of Charles le Brun and Jean Bérain, and often incorporated elements of coats of arms or cornucopias with elegant festoons, borne by putti. The earliest of these objects date from around 1640. By 1720, approximately, the fashion and craftsmanship had lapsed into obsolescence.