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Spice box

1602/3
Not on view
The intricate ornament on this scallop-shaped box reflects the late Elizabethan taste for Antwerp Mannerism; indeed, many specialized workers active in London’s goldsmiths’ trade came from the Spanish Netherlands. Although shell-shaped boxes such as this one are sometimes referred to as spice boxes, according to early seventeenth-century inventories, they were used for serving sugar, an expensive delicacy. The English often sweetened their wine with sugar or honey, a habit that persisted through the seventeenth century.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Spice box
  • Maker: W. R., London (ca. 1602)
  • Date: 1602/3
  • Culture: British, London
  • Medium: Silver
  • Dimensions: confirmed, at widest points: 3 × 4 5/8 × 5 7/8 in., 12.944oz. (7.6 × 11.7 × 14.9 cm, 367g)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Silver
  • Credit Line: Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1968
  • Object Number: 68.141.277
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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