This as you can see is a truly beautiful paint box made by the justly famous Winsor and Newton of London. 
I believe it was made around 1850 which was a time when interest in a Gothic revival was popular. 
This was of course very obvious in the works of the wonderful Mr Pugin the great Architect. 
It was a time when many people wanted to return to a golden age long before the industrialism and resulting unhealthy but very atmospheric smog’s which smothered London. 
People were interested in the types of Art that would have been created in those long ago times that were once again manifest in the works of the Pre Raphealites whose name describes art before Raphael. 
So the great Winsor and Newton created these lovely boxes. 
Some people Might think that an illuminating box only useful for manuscripts etc whereas nothing could be further from the truth. Any kind of painting can be made with this type of box and the watercolour medium. 
Indeed one might say that all paintings are illuminating in one way or another. 
The condition of the box is great with a bright label that is also extremely nice. 
It has its original green baise to the underside and original lock that works to lock the box. 
That said I never really trust these old locks as they’ve done so much work. 
However I tried it ten times in a row and it worked every time!
The original palette is present and signed underneath. 
It has a full complement of of glass pots which contain the paints. These are hardly touched or new in condition. Interestingly these glass containers have a B underneath which might suggest that they are maybe replacements. 
That said the box looks as though it was made for them, as they fit perfectly. As I’ve said many times in these pages paints are consumables and sometimes get replaced but this box appears to not have had much use or maybe loved a lot and looked after. 
To me everything looks so right and just waiting to start work once again. 
I’ve had it for some time but never got round to using it so it’s time I think for someone else to put it back to work. 
Approx, 29.5 x 18.5 x 4.5cm