Spice box
Not on view
The intricate ornament on this scallop-shaped box reflects the late Elizabethan taste for Antwerp Mannerism; indeed, many specialized workers active in London’s goldsmiths’ trade came from the Spanish Netherlands. Although shell-shaped boxes such as this one are sometimes referred to as spice boxes, according to early seventeenth-century inventories, they were used for serving sugar, an expensive delicacy. The English often sweetened their wine with sugar or honey, a habit that persisted through the seventeenth century.
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