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Purchased out of the funds of the Murray Bequest for £462 from Messrs Durlacher Bros., 142 Bond Street, London W1. RP: 32/6133 Lent to the British Library exhibition Henry VIII: Man and Monarch, April- Sept 2009 The provenance of the box is not known previous to its sale at Christies (7/7/1932 lot 111) by order of the Trustees of the late A.C.W. Dunn Gardner of Denston Hall, Suffolk. The coat of arms of Henry VIII (reigned 1509-47) together with the heraldic badges of his first queen, Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), suggest that it was made by the court workshops of Henry VIII before 1527, when he began proceedings for divorce from Catherine. The inclusion of painted heads imitating miniatures suggests that the box dates from after 1520 when miniature painting became popular. Similar boxes appear in the inventory taken at Henry VIII's death in 1547 but were not described in sufficent detail to make identification possible. Possibly the box was made as a royal gift, or could have been owned by Catherine of Aragon herself, and might have passed out of the Royal collection soon after it was made. The present outer covering of of shagreen, with metal mounts, dates from the eighteenth century and indicates the historic veneration with which the desk was treated even at that time. The original exterior covering of the desk is not known but might have been velvet or leather with an outer leather travelling case. The scarlet velvet lining the interior surfaces of the compartments was probably added in the 19th century. The surface of the tray in the outer lid and the surfaces of the large compartment have been crudely relined with crimson silk velvet. Historical significance: Tudor taste demanded luxurious furnishings, such as can be seen in the interior settings of portraits of Henry VIII and his family. Room interiors were furnished with carved, painted and gilded on ceilings or walls, or hung with tapestry or embroideries. Floors were often painted. Gold leaf was used lavishly on carving, and gold thread in embroidery. Tudor royal furnishings have largely disappeared and this is one of the few court objects to survive. The decoration of the box relates to such schemes of decoration. The inner surfaces of the desk are are lined with leather, lavishly decorated with gilding and painting. The painting is not of the high quality of illuminated manuscripts or miniature painting, but is probably closer in quality to furniture or wall decoration. The box can be seen as a compendium of fashionable ornament of the 1520s. Features include Tudor heraldic devicese framed by early Renaissance ornament, late gothic features suh as the quatrefoils on the drawer-fronts, figures derived from North European print sources, and imitations of miniature painting. Heraldic imagery, which provided a ready repertoire of colourful motifs for Tudor craftsmen and carried powerful messages of ownership and allegiance, was used extensively at the court of Henry VIII for furnishings, liveries and as architectural decoration. It is this which gives us the clue to the origins of the box. The underside of the outer lid carries many devices including the initials 'HR' and H&K', and the lides of the small drawers include dragons and greyhounds, Tudor badges and often used as supporters for the coat of arms. The Renaissance ornament, in the form of grotesques, is in some parts misunderstood, such as the inverted candelabrum base, with paw feet, between the roundels of Paris and Helen. The underside of the inner lid shows Henry's coat of arms, unusally supported by two putti similar to those on a carved coat of arms at Hampton Court. On either side are figures of Mars in armour and Venus with Cupid, after woodcuts by the celebrated German artist Hans Burgkmair, published around 1510.