The container is delicately decorated with two pine shoots, complete with roots; the interior of the lid carries an encoded inscription in ink.
The piece was most probably originally intended for the domestic market, diameter 7.8cm, height 4.8cm.
The 1835 Burghley Inventory records: ‘Japan Closet, Glass case opposite the window, Two round Boxes. Black & Gold’. (See JWA 09071).
The 1867 Burghley Inventory records: ‘Cabinets, No 88 Japan Closet, 2 black and gold circular boxes’. (See JWA 09071).
