Antique Portable Metal Painter's Box with Palette, 1884 Patent little chair but they're really fabulous

but they're really fabulous

both collected in Japan and by contemporary makers

one is a little narrower at about 2 1/2" across

a member of the Committee of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art and a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy

Antique Portable Metal Painter's Box with Palette, 1884 Patent little chair but they're really fabulousI really love the way this box was designed (in 1884) unfolding in a sequence, first to reveal the wooden palette held in place on the underside of the lid by a wire latch, and then with two doors opening out (again held in place by a wire latch) to reveal compartments for paints and brushes and whatever else inside. It's seen some use with the initials of a one time owner (T. F it appears) painted in red on the front, and with some supplies found