Master Art

The chest retains all the original ormolu mounts and the original silk velvet base cover. The maroon velvet interior is of later date. 
The production of painted enamel wares in South Staffordshire was at it's height between the years 1765-1775. Later work was less elaborate to compete with cheaper mass produced and lower quality wares from Birmingham.
The pastoral scenes depicted on enamel during the high period of Staffordshire enamel were usually inspired by the French Sevres porcelain manufacture which adopted or were inspired by paintings by Francois Boucher, Simon-Francois Ravenet and in this case Claude Lorrain (1600-1682).
Tea chests of this type are in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York.