{"product_id":"round-english-lithographed-tin-with-gilt-rococo-scrollwork-cabbage-roses-and-courting-couple-medallion-c-1930-1955","title":"Round English Lithographed Tin with Gilt Rococo Scrollwork, Cabbage Roses and Courting Couple Medallion, c. 1930–1955","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA shallow round tin, about the diameter of a teacup saucer, with a deep drop-over lid that telescopes down over the base and covers most of the side wall. The ground is a warm clotted-cream yellow, and every surface of it is printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe lid is built around a central oval: a courting couple in eighteenth-century dress, he in a plum coat and tricorne with a cane, she in blue and white with a lace cap and a rose at her temple, set against a soft landscape. The oval is ringed by a beaded border in pale pink and framed by heavy gilt rococo scrollwork — C-scrolls, shells, and fan bursts arranged in strict symmetry — with four pink cabbage roses set into the corners of the design.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe same vocabulary continues around the side wall in a narrower register: alternating gilt scrolls and single roses running the full circumference of the lid, and repeating again on the base below the lid line. Held close, the roses show the fine dot screen of the lithography, which is how you can tell the flowers were printed and not painted.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrinted to the side wall of the base, in small capitals worked into the pattern, is the line CONTAINER MADE IN ENGLAND.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat wording is doing something specific. It marks the origin of the tin itself and not of whatever was sold inside it, and it is the phrasing used when a company filled a container it did not manufacture. English tinplate printers supplied boxes to the confectionery and toiletry trades at enormous volume through the first half of the twentieth century, and a tin of this shape — wide, shallow, deep-lidded — was the standard form for both toffee and loose face powder. Which of the two this one held is not recorded on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe decoration is period-typical rather than original: the courting couple after Fragonard, worked into an oval and surrounded by gilt rococo and roses, was one of the most heavily used commercial designs in English tin printing, appearing on biscuit tins, toffee tins, powder boxes, and trinket boxes across the same decades. It was chosen because it read as luxurious at a low unit cost.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is no maker's name, no brand, no product name, and no date anywhere on the tin. The country line is the only mark it carries, so the dating rests on the printing and the form rather than on documentation, and we are not going to assign it to one of the English tin printers on the strength of a scroll.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eLidded lithographed tin, originally a confectionery or powder container\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEngland. Marked CONTAINER MADE IN ENGLAND to the side wall of the base. No maker's name or brand is present.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eShallow round base with deep telescoping drop-over lid\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOffset-lithographed tinplate in cream, gilt, pink, plum and blue\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCONTAINER MADE IN ENGLAND printed to the side of the base; no maker's mark, brand, or date\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1930–1955\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eVery good. The tin is round and true with no dents or crushing to the rim, and the lid seats correctly and lifts cleanly. The lithography is bright and complete, the gilt scrollwork unrubbed, and the central medallion fully legible. There is light scattered surface scuffing and a few small dark flecks in the cream ground, most visible across the lid, with minor speckling along the lower edge of the base. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA lidded tin is the most quietly useful object you can put on a surface, and this one is small enough to live anywhere. It takes rings and earrings on a dresser, paper clips and stamps on a desk, sewing notions and buttons in a workroom, hair pins in a bathroom, or loose change and receipts by a door. The deep lid means nothing works its way out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn display it does something a ceramic box cannot. Printed tin has a slight sheen and a warmth to it that reads as older than it is, and cream and gilt sit comfortably against almost any wall colour without the commitment of a strong pattern. Set it on a stack of books, group it with other tins, or use it as the lid-off catch-all beside a lamp.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt also travels well as a gift. It is small, it is inexpensive to send, and a printed English tin with a gilt border and a courting couple on it is the kind of thing that reads as thoughtful without needing explanation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA note on care: this is printed tinplate and the enemy is moisture. Never wash it, never soak it, and never put anything damp inside it — water will find the seams and start rust that cannot be reversed. Wipe it with a dry soft cloth only, and avoid all cleaners and polishes, which will lift the lithography and the gilt. Store it somewhere dry, and if it holds jewellery, line it with a scrap of felt so the metal does not scratch.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48028547809385,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/IMG_3763copy_96023fad-386f-4eb1-97d5-8f3f3fa6d47f.jpg?v=1789003462","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/round-english-lithographed-tin-with-gilt-rococo-scrollwork-cabbage-roses-and-courting-couple-medallion-c-1930-1955","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}