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Object Timeline
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1931 |
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2008 |
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2014 |
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2025 |
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Card Case (England)
This is a Card case. It was manufactured by Nathaniel Mills & Sons. It is dated 1845–46 and we acquired it in 1931. Its medium is repoussé and chased moulded sheet silver. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.
Nathaniel Mills & Sons was known for high-quality silver card cases, snuff boxes, and vinaigrette cases, particularly the castle-top boxes featuring significant buildings and landmarks, such as this one. They were often bought by tourists as souvenirs or someone might purchase a group of them and then travel to all of the monuments featured. The card case held visiting cards, particularly popular with women in the nineteenth century, who, if following gentile culture, would have presented a card upon visiting the home of a friend or acquaintance. Card cases, usually of silver, were popular alongside this custom in Britain in the 1830s. This example depicts the novelist Sir Walter Scott’s memorial in Edinburgh. (Queen Victoria’s interest in the Highlands led to a vogue for Scottish scenes on a variety of accouterments.) Mills used the popular repoussé technique, hammering out the form from the back to create a low-relief scene. Typically, as in this example, a raised scene is displayed on one side while the other contains incised scrollwork so that it can be placed flat on a table.
This object was
donated by
Eleanor Garnier Hewitt and Sarah Cooper Hewitt.
It is credited Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
- Sidewall (France)
- block-printed on machine-made paper.
- Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
- 1931-45-59
- Briefcase
- nickel-plated leather.
- Courtesy of Thom Browne.
- 74.2015.4
- Prosthetic Leg Cover, The Victorian
- digitally fabricated abs plastic, polyurethane straps, metal hooks.
- Gift of ALLELES Design Studio Ltd..
- s-e-2593
Its dimensions are
H x W x D: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 cm (3 7/16 x 2 3/8 x 1/4 in.)
Cite this object as
Card Case (England); Manufactured by Nathaniel Mills & Sons (United Kingdom); repoussé and chased moulded sheet silver; H x W x D: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 cm (3 7/16 x 2 3/8 x 1/4 in.); Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt; 1931-48-97
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions Hewitt Sisters Collect and Rococo: The Continuing Curve 1730-2008.
