The hinged top depicting a figure beneath an arch seated in a garden surrounded by richly varied insects, flora, and fauna extending throughout the sides, with a handwritten tag to the interior that reads Rare Stuart/ Box with beads/ cir.1650/ Sir John Smith/ Collection; losses to beadwork
8 in. (20.3 cm.) high, 13¹⁄₄ in. (33.7 cm.) wide, 9³⁄₄ in. (24.8 cm.) deep

Acquired from Hirschl & Adler, New York.

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Lot Essay

Beadwork, like needlework and other forms of embroidery, was principally a domestic art form and was often produced by women and girls rather than professionals, thus revealing the more informal and intimate aspects of daily life. Beads had been imported to England from Venice and Amsterdam as early as the 1630s. Unlike silk threads, beads retain their colors so that beadwork pieces reveal the original vibrant and colorful quality of seventeenth century embroidery.