Victorian Coromandel Vanity Box from the Glyn Cywarch Estate

Description

Victorian coromandel vanity box from the Glyn Cywarch Estate dating to 1857, veneered throughout in richly figured coromandel and bound in brass with matching double brass stringing, campaign style side carrying handles and a circular engraved escutcheon to the front. The lid features a central brass framed initial plaque engraved with the monogram GHME. The vanity box retains hallmarked silver fittings by James Vickery of London with a maker’s plaque for Henry Lewis, Goldsmith, Jeweller & Dressing Case Maker, 7 New Bond Street, London.

Opening the vanity box reveals a fitted interior lined in royal blue velvet and water silk paper containing twelve hand cut hobnail glass bottles and jars with heavily engraved sterling silver lids. Each lid is gilded to the interior and decorated with a central letter G inset with rubies and turquoise stones. The interior retains its original stand alone mirror with ruched velvet backing, positioned before a hidden document compartment with expanding pouch behind.

The upper tray retains engraved brass hinges and fitted lock plates together with a push catch mechanism releasing the drop down front compartment below. The compartment houses an extensive arrangement of mother of pearl mounted accessories and vanity instruments including three pairs of scissors, a silver corkscrew and a mother of pearl hand mirror. Behind the drop down section sits a fitted drawer containing matching monogrammed ivory brushes, glove stretchers and further dressing accessories.

Beneath the main drawer sits a concealed spring loaded compartment accessed by pressing the central screw to the rear of the tray. Once released, the hidden drawer opens to reveal partitioned storage for jewellery, watches and smaller valuables. A further concealed compartment is positioned beneath, accessed only after complete removal of the first hidden drawer.

A highly elaborate mid nineteenth century vanity box retaining an exceptional level of original fittings, concealed compartments and engraved silverwork throughout. The provenance to the Glyn Cywarch Estate and the collection of Lord Harlech adds further historical interest to an already important surviving example.

View the full Vanity Box Collection.

Provenance and Historical Background

The Glyn Cywarch Estate Lineage This Victorian coromandel dressing case comes directly from the ancestral collection of the Barons Harlech at their family seat, Glyn Cywarch in Wales. The piece serves as a generational family heirloom that tracks the history and marriage of the estate’s principal heir.

The 1857 Childhood Commission

The silver-gilt fittings by James Vickery bear London hallmarks for 1857. They feature gold-mounted initials encrusted with rubies and turquoise, displaying a stylized Gothic capital letter G.

This date aligns with the early childhood of George Ralph Charles Ormsby-Gore (1855 to 1938), who later succeeded as the 3rd Baron Harlech. Born in January 1855, this luxury dressing set was commissioned during his infancy, which was a common practice among the British peerage to mark the birth of a principal heir. The interior silver was decorated with his primary family initial, G for Gore.

The 1881 Marital Monogram

The exterior brass plaque features an interwoven Victorian monogram reading GHME. This same monogram is also engraved onto the interior ivory brush handles. On 25 July 1881, George Ralph Charles Ormsby-Gore married Lady Margaret Ethel Gordon, the daughter of the 10th Marquess of Huntly. Following this marriage, the dressing case was updated. The exterior shield and interior ivory pieces were engraved with their joint marital initials to represent George, Harlech, Margaret, and Ethel.

Measurements

22.5cm High x 36cm Wide x 28cm Deep (8.86 x 14.17 x 11 Inches)

What is Glyn Cywarch?

Glyn Cywarch is a historic Grade II listed manor house located near Talsarnau in the Ardudwy region of Gwynedd, Wales. The estate originally belonged to a branch of the Wynn family descended from Osbwrn Wyddel, with the present house constructed in 1616 for William and Kathryn Wynn. Built in the Renaissance style, the house is noted for its ambitious gentry architecture and unusual layout comprising two linked dwellings connected by later additions and extensions.

The interior retains a remarkable level of early detail including elaborate plasterwork overmantels, armorial panels, Jacobean woodwork and seventeenth century decorative features. Several elements within the house were relocated from other important Welsh properties including Clenenney and Penrhos Old Hall, contributing further to the architectural significance of the estate.

During the seventeenth century the estate passed through marriage into the ownership of the Owens family of Clenenney and Brogyntyn before later becoming associated with the Ormsby-Gore family, later Barons Harlech. Although primarily used as a secondary residence from the nineteenth century onwards, Glyn Cywarch remained within the same family line for generations, helping preserve much of its original historic character.

What is Baron Harlech?

Baron Harlech, of the County of Merioneth, is a title within the Peerage of the United Kingdom created in 1876 for the Conservative politician John Ormsby-Gore. Prior to receiving the title, Ormsby-Gore represented both Carnarvon and North Shropshire in the House of Commons and came from the prominent Ormsby-Gore family, whose lineage can be traced through several generations of British and Irish political figures and landed gentry.

The title subsequently passed through successive generations of the Ormsby-Gore family, many of whom held important political and diplomatic positions throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among the most notable holders was the fifth Baron Harlech, who served as British Ambassador to the United States between 1961 and 1965.

The family seat is Glyn Cywarch, near Talsarnau in Gwynedd, Wales, a historic estate closely associated with the Harlech title and the wider Ormsby-Gore family history.

Who was James Vickery?

James Vickery was a London silversmith active during the mid nineteenth century, best known for producing sterling silver fittings for high quality dressing cases and vanity boxes. Working from several London addresses between the 1850s and 1880s, Vickery specialised in engraved silver lids and mounted components fitted to luxury travelling cases and cut glass containers.

His hallmarks are frequently encountered on fine coromandel and rosewood vanity boxes of the period, particularly those retailed by leading London cabinet makers and dressing case manufacturers. Surviving examples bearing clear James Vickery hallmarks are highly regarded for both their quality and importance in accurately dating fitted interiors.

For further information see our Makers and Retailers profile on James Vickery.

Who was Henry Lewis?

Henry Lewis was a London jeweller and silversmith known for producing high quality dressing cases, silver accessories and specialist metalwork during the nineteenth century. Trading from prestigious London addresses including New Bond Street and Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, his workshop supplied refined fitted cases and luxury goods to both private clients and commercial establishments.

Henry Lewis became particularly associated with elegant travelling vanity boxes and dressing cases fitted with silver mounted accessories and cut glass containers. Following the dissolution of his partnership with Bertie Charles Scott in 1881, Lewis continued trading independently under his own name, maintaining the firm’s reputation for well made luxury goods and fitted interiors.

For further information see our Makers and Retailers profile on Henry Lewis.

What is Coromandel?

Coromandel is a valuable wood found in India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It has a contrasting hazel-brown colour with black grain. It is a dense, heavy wood that is so popular it has been logged to extinction over the last few hundred years. This makes Calamander pieces even more special.

For further information see our Woods Encyclopaedia on Coromandel.

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