The cover and base of the box are of yellow marble with a reeded English gold mount with wavy interior and raised thumbpiece, 8.2cm wide.
An accompanying label is inscribed in the distinctive hand of Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793): ‘Brought from Naples 1763.’
The box also contains a paper inscribed in the same hand with: ‘stones from Sorrento in Italy’.
The 9th Earl of Exeter travelled to Italy in 1763 on the first of his two Grand Tours. He returned again in 1768.
