18th Century South Staffordshire Enamel Bonbonniere Birds & Fruit

Very pretty Staffordshire enamel egg shaped bonbonniere, c.1770, with a deep cobalt blue ground and 2 white ground vignettes on either side. One showing an exotic bird flying in to land on a branch loaded with fruit and on the other a scene of fruit and flowers with a butterfly hovering above. On the lid is a further similar scene with bird, branch and group of fruit and flowers. All very finely painted. The rest of the egg has intricate raised white beaded decoration and lots of raised gilded swirls and arabesques. The mounts are brass and the inside is plain white. A beautiful piece with superb attention to detail.

It measures 3" long and 2 1/8" wide.

Condition is very good for age but with a few small areas of damage: an area of enamel loss above left of the fruit panel, a curved crack to the lid and a very small loss above the bird against the mounts. Inside there are a few small rim chips and some short fine lines. No restoration and it closes nicely.