A GERMAN ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND BRASS-INLAID MAHOGANY LETTER BOX

With its concave molded lid, this letter box is similar to tea caddies produced at the Roentgen workshop. Boxes of varying shapes and function constituted a sizeable portion of the atelier’s output. The most popular form was the abovementioned tea caddy, or Teeschatulle, of which the workshop is known to have produced over 100 between 1755 and 1790. The popularity of such boxes is illustrated by the fact that when a lottery was organized by the workshop in 1768, twelve tea caddies were among the prizes: Zwolf Stuck kostbare eingelegte Thee-Schatullen mit einer Schieb Lade, welche von selbst herausspringt, a St. 6 Duc. Equally highly-prized and luxurious, letter boxes were less common and were referred to as coffret à courrier. In fact, the present lot is a unique work by the Neuwied workshop and it might have been a special commission from a patron unsatisfied with the caskets in Roentgen's stock. Letter caskets were essentially portable desktop mailboxes where their owner would collect correspondence that was waiting to be mailed. Only the most trusted servants had access to the contents of these boxes when it was time to be emptied and for the post to be dispatched. The popularity of small mahogany caskets, regardless of function, is illustrated by the fact that Roentgen’s contemporaries eventually began imitating his works and small boxes of this type quickly became fashionable throughout Europe.