Fine Antique Japanese Style Napoleon III Lacquerware Paper Mache Glove Box 1870

  
Fine Antique Japanese Style Napoleon III Lacquerware Paper Mache Glove Box 1870. This is a particlarly attractive papier mâché glove box in black lacquer with Japonaise decoration. Of course, if you do not want to use it for your gloves, it would be perfectly acceptable for jewelry or other special items. It is very handsomely decorated and particularly finely detailed, depicting ladies on a balcony overlooking people below and with birds above. The interior retains its original red color. These lacquerware pieces were quite popular in the mid to late 1800's in England and France and were made in both countries. The high quality of this one leads us to believe it is of French origin. The box is 12 inches long and 3½ inches wide. It is in very good antique condition with some minor blemishes resulting from years of use.

There is one small lacquer loss that is colored over but not too noticeable, some color loss mostly in ladies. We would date it to the third quarter of the 19th century, in the reign of Napoleon III.