Travel Writing Box

The production of writing sets is as old as writing itself. The most ancient examples date back to the Bronze Age and are limited to a pair of articulated tablets with a cavity inside to contain the instruments. They were widespread throughout the Mediterranean, the Near and the Far East, and constitute a type of object that crosses all eras and all cultures¹.

In the European Middle Ages, portable desks gradually settled on two main types. A trapezoidal one was characterised by an inclined plane and intended to support the sheet of paper. While the other variety was expressly designed for travel: a box divided into various compartments².

Because of the evolution of writing implements, very few writing desks, let alone with their original contents, have survived. Some exceptions, of particular refinement and value, are the ones held in European royal collections, where they were preserved as works of art³.

The solidity and compactness of this chest, in addition to the ingenious flap system that allowed the paper sheets to be kept under the lid, the presence of a ‘secret’ compartment under the bottom, and the use of exotic woods (Macassar ebony and Brazilian Bois de Violette) suggests identifying it as a captain’s chest, designed to keep the writing instruments in order despite the ship’s roll⁴.

These objects were particularly sought after and often accompanied the owner throughout his life, being then handed down from generation to generation.

The workmanship and decorative styles suggest a Franco-Flemish collocation of the Louis XIV period.