Empire Style Lidded Glass Box in Silver-Tone and Gilt Metal Mount, Muse with Lyre, Palmettes and Paw Feet

A Muse with her lyre steps across the glass of this small lidded box, framed by palmettes and standing on lion's paws. It carries the whole vocabulary of Empire design in a piece you can hold in two hands. It is a small, finely detailed classical ornament.

A clear glass cylinder sits inside an openwork metal mount with a leaf-and-bead band at the rim, a patterned band at the base and small lion-paw feet. Applied to the front is a gilt figure of a draped female musician holding a lyre, flanked by palmette mounts. A domed lid with leaf ornament rises to a tall finial. The figure with a lyre is a Muse, one of the goddesses of the arts in Greek myth. Empire designers borrowed such figures from ancient reliefs and applied them to everything from clocks to caskets.

The box is in very good vintage condition. The glass liner lifts out, so the box is easy to clean and use. On a sideboard it holds sweets or sugar, and on a dressing table it keeps cotton, jewelry or small keepsakes.

The object: a clear glass cylinder in a silver-tone and gilt metal mount, with a Muse figure, palmettes, paw feet and a domed lid with finial.

DETAILS

Size: Height 17 cm (6.7 in) including finial · Diameter 9 cm (3.5 in) — about the height of a large mason jar
Material: clear glass, silver-tone and gilt metal
Style-Period: Empire style
Shipping: professionally packed, fully insured, worldwide · we handle the paperwork and pay all import duties · nothing to settle on delivery
Condition: very good vintage condition
Returns: accepted within 30 days

Read our condition standard. Please ask if you need additional photographs or measurements.

Worldwide delivery is included in the price. Every piece is individually packed, tracked and fully insured. No shipping charge is added at checkout. If your destination is not listed, please contact us before ordering.

Maison Jaspers pays US tariffs and import duties. For other destinations, local import taxes and duties may apply and are payable by the recipient. Contact us before ordering if you need destination-specific guidance.

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Delivery information

Notify us within 30 days of delivery if you wish to return a piece. No reason is required. You pay return shipping for a change-of-mind return.

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