Pair of Gilt-metal Jewellery Caskets with Dog Finials c.1880

A charming pair of late 19th-century Continental gilt-metal caskets in the Renaissance Revival (Historismus) taste, each surmounted by a finely cast figural dog finial — one a seated spaniel, the other a hound at the chase. The hinged domed lids and bombé bodies are richly decorated all over with hand-chased and engraved acanthus scrollwork, foliate motifs and beaded borders, raised on shaped scrolled feet with scroll-and-bead twin handles to either side. The interiors retain their original rose-pink silk linings, with leather-covered card bases. Produced in the manner of the Viennese and Hanau workshops that specialised in this revivalist style during the 1870s–1890s, these caskets would originally have graced a lady's dressing table, intended to hold jewellery, trinkets or small keepsakes. Sold as a matched pair — increasingly difficult to find together.