Walter Scott Lockhart Scott's Kingwood Dressing Case

A Dressing Box made of kingwood veneered onto mahogany and inlaid with brass stringing and fleur de lys decoration.

The interior of the box has at some stage been stripped out, leaving evidence of once having had various dividers. The inside of the lid has a dark green leather pad which originally would have held a removable mirror in place behind it. The box is well made with decorative brass corner straps to the top of the main box section to strengthen. There is also a good flush handle to the top which engraved Walter Scott Lockhart Scott.

The owner was the grandson of the famous Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott and the son of John Gibson Lockhart who was Scott's biographer and a famous critic and author in his own right. It is possible that Walter Scott Lockhart Scott either acquired this box when he went on a tour of Europe with his father in 1843 or when he joined the 16th Queen's Lancers on the 1st of April 1846. He purchased his lieutenancy a year later but had left the army by 1851. He inherited Sir Walter Scott's famous house Abbotsford on the death of his uncle, a soldier also called Sir Walter Scott, in 1847. The band master of the 16th Lancers, J. G. Jones, composed The Abbotsford Polka and dedicated it to its new owner, Lockhart, who was in the same regiment. On inheriting Abbotsford, Walter Scott Lockhart changed his name to Walter Lockhart Scott which might explain the rather convoluted engraving to the box's handle. He died a young man, at the age of 26, on the 10th of January 1853 at Versailles. It was said that he had fallen into bad company in the army and ruined his health.

Kingwood is a striking timber and is typically only found on good quality boxes. This box also has the added bonus of an interesting provenance. Circa 1845.