This is by far the largest and certainly one of the rarest items in my collection and is quite honestly the most intriguing. 
Without a doubt it is incredibly rare. 
One of the reasons that makes it so intriguing is that it is shrouded in mystery and for a while almost turned me into a detective!
I think virtually all of my collection was acquired on a kind of first person basis where I meet the owner of the item and a business arrangement is agreed. This item was different in that it was purchased from someone probably not connected with the original seller. This of course makes it very difficult to gain any provenance. 
However I did get a lucky break and eventually I think I reached the family who had released it. 
The problem was and still is that the family is very secretive as it appears to be a family perhaps of two half’s that don’t get on. One side doesn’t want to have any involvement and it seems that the other side doesn’t want to be seen as divulging information all for reasons unknown. 
They say you can pick your friends but not your family! 
The concept of family is a wonderful thing but sometimes it just becomes a family thing!
And sometimes very frustrating!
So let’s go with what I’m reasonably sure of. 
The box was made in the last quarter of the 18th century perhaps during the 1770s. There is a bottle of Copal Varnish inside the box and shown in the photographs from W J Reeves which probably dates to the 1780s. The bottle contents are hardly used so it could possibly be a replacement for one used before? Either way it is astonishingly rare. 
It was made for and used by an artist that certainly for awhile at least moved around. The cautionary words on the box top attest to this and read, NB With care. 
I have been lead to believe that the original artist did travel and was an important artist and finally that the box may well be American. 
It is true that artists just starting out especially portrait artists at the time commenced their careers by travelling to a client until of course they had made a name for themselves.
 I believe Thomas Gainsborough did exactly this. It is also true that some American artists came to England to study. Many also carried their equipment with them especially people on the Grand Tour. 
There is only one other box that I know of which is similar to this and in fact is very close in design and size and did in-fact belong to an American student of the same period. 
This is John Trumbull who came to London to study with the great Mr West at the Royal Academy. This of course was originally presided over by Sir Joshua Reynolds. If you’re interested google Mr Trumbulls paint box and you will find a photo of it. I’m sure you’ll agree that it looks very much like a battered version of the one I have here. Personally I think this was made very probably in the US as I’ve never seen an English box that looks remotely like it in over 40 years and to my eye the one one in America looks a lot like it. Of course there are unanswered questions all over the place such as is there a chance Mr Trumbull had two boxes? Well I’m truth I don’t think I’ve ever known any artist who was happy with just a single box and you probably wouldn’t believe how many I have here! But who knows? Maybe this stronger version was better for travelling? it has certainly travelled in time very well. 
As to the box itself. 
It is made from a beautiful Mahogany of the type that could only be found a very long time ago it is just gorgeous wood. 
It has knocks and dents etc chips here and there but it is solid and quite useable. 
The top made of a single plank lifts and can be held in place by an iron rod which is locked into position and released by pressing a button on the mechanism’s side. This is quite sophisticated and works perfectly. It turns the box into a easel as well as a carrier for lots of things. The original lock is present and it works with the provided key. 
Deep inside the box are many 18th century pigment jar’s together with the Reeves bottle already mentioned. There are ceramic palettes in a stack and an 18th century glass mortar and pestle. This like the jars show broken pontil marks as should be. Although it is warped though still useable is what I believe is the original wooden palette still in there. 
There are as you can see many original brushes and some of these are very worthy of study as some show very early metal ferrules. We are taught of course that this is a 19th century innovation but after owning this I’m really not so sure. 
I think most of these brushes went undetected for a long time as they were concealed in a compartment low down on the boxes right hand side. This compartment is opened via the original brass turned rod which when moved opens up the hidden area which was intended for canvas and paper to be stored flat. 
Once again inside the main part of the box there are two largish sections one of which is stained a reddish colour and may have been Madder pigment. There were residual amounts of this dry pigment and may have been used for grounds or possibly for roughing in skin tones. It is quite normal in 18 th century boxes to have one or more large wells of dried pigment that were to be used often. We have to remember that at the time artists by and large made there own paints. Of course oil paints were available in bladders and they may well have been used but I suspect then as now it’s cheaper to make one’s own it also means that the artist has the colours he or she wants and in a consistency that is preferred. Certainly I make all of my own paints. 
So in closing we have something here that will probably go into a museum collection as I’m sure it is quite important it is in very good condition for its age and still perfectly usable. The contents are I believe are largely complete It is also steeped in history and shrouded in mystery and also incredibly rare. 
Also please note that the box is genuinely heavy so postage is I’m afraid quite expensive but it will be fully insured. 
Please be aware that the brushes either side of the box are display only. 
Approximately,
53.5 cm
36    cm
16     cm