This is an extremely rare item and very beautiful. It is a late 18th century young ladies writing slope combined with a watercolour paint box.
 
In forty years Ive managed to see three of these but you would not believe the amount of writing slopes it took me to rummage through, and I do mean an awful lot. It is not exactly rare to find a box such as a vanity case or a writing box that has through its long life been used to store artists materials but these slopes that appear to have been made as writing slopes /watercolour boxes or at least converted at an earlyish date are very rare in my experience.
It is not difficult to imagine how such things come to be when we remember that painting and drawing was such a large part of a young ladies education in the past.
 
And of course before emails etc people were very energetic letter writers. This also is not surprising as on a practical level the post in England in the Victorian times was extremely fast. I remember reading old letters found in such boxes whilst working in museums that talked about posting a letter in Cornwall in the morning and reaching London the same day! Of course then as now young people like to stay in contact with each other and a writing slope to a young lady in the distant past was the equivalent of an iPad today.
 
Coincidentally this box is about the size of an iPad and interestingly I’ve yet to see one of the bigger slopes with a paint box but I live in hope.
 
A good deal of the the famous female writers also worked from a writing slope so it seems that in the past these slopes were used for quite a few things. Personally I love them! I love that personal link with the past that so often comes from paint boxes.  This particular box is all made from a rather nice Mahogany and is in good order.
 
It has had a few repairs over the years due to use and in fact when I purchased it I had a hinge replaced as it was broken and a new leather skiver fitted. It does retain quite a few ink stains but that is normal and not in any way obtrusive to me at any rate.
 
It has also been cleaned and polished in and out as this does help them to survive and look their best but nothing has been over done just sensitive looking after!
 
The paint box itself is accessed by lifting one of the leather covered writing surfaces and there a smaller box that contains the paint tray is found.
 
All of the paints are also very old but little used which to me is both sad but nice! I do like to think of these things being used.
Unfortunately there is no makers name on the paints but they are in no way modern.
 
There are two matching water bowls that are really quite pretty and two little mixing dishes along with a couple of original brushes and a pen.
 
There are also two small bottles that I imagine were used for ink. However the tops under the lids are quite narrow so a very fine pen must have been used.
 
The lock is present and does work with its key but these locks have done much work so personally I don’t trust them ever so much!
I once got locked out of a paint box for quite a while and I didn’t enjoy a second of that!
 
Both of its original side handles are also present but remember these have done a lot of work also.They appear strong but I wouldn’t tempt fate!
 
This is truly a lovely thing and I’m sure it’s next custodian will love it just as I have done.
Approx 29 x 22 x 8 cm