Object Description
An exceptional, coromandel wood Decanter Box with brass edging. The box has an engraved maker’s plate for Thornhill, 144 Bond St, London. The box interior is lined in satinwood and blue velvet. On releasing the Bramah lock and lifting the lid, the front of the box will fall. The 4 large, cut glass decanters sit in a satinwood tray with campaign handles to 3 sides. The tray is edged in a rounded ebony moulding to the base, has a leather underside and is fitted with inset castors. The interior base of the box and the fall are fitted with 2 brass strips for the tray’s castors to pull forward on. It is also removable, to be wheeled up and down a dining table. The lid interior has 4 fittings that would originally have held 4 glasses, fitting in between the decanter necks when closed. The top of the box is inset with a heraldic crest that looks to be for the Reyne family with the initials H.F. below. Walter Thornhill expanded the range of items, after taking over from his father John in 1848, and built a good reputation for his luxury goods. The quality and design of this Decanter Box fits in with that reputation. Late 19th Century.