A SPA MOTHER-OF-PEARL, STAINED HORN AND BRASS-INLAID BOX

In the 17th century, Spa was not only a fashionable resort for the rich Europeans seeking cures from the waters, but was also known as a center of the lacquer trade which had begun there before 1600. In Spa lacquered objects were produced in the fashionable style of the Far East as souvenirs of Spa. During the season the lacquer industry kept about five hundred workers busy, producing objects like snuffboxes, toilette boxes and other containers. The earliest printed reference to the lacquer made in Spa is by the physician Edmond Nessel. In his pamphlet published in 1689 he specifically mentions the work done with mother-of-pearl, ivory, tortoiseshell, English pewter and silver and refers to the Boulle technique and mother-of-pearl inlay combined with lacquer decoration. A related example in the Musée Communal, Spa, is illustrated in H. Huth, Lacquer of the West, London, 1971, fig. 299. A similar casket sold at Christie's Amsterdam at 14th of December 2004, lot 532.