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Friday, 23rd October 2009 (3337 views)

An ornate gold box commissioned by the Duchess of Portland in the 18th century is among the items that are currently on display at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven‚ Connecticut.

The item is on show as part of the Mrs Delany and her Circle exhibition at the institution to illustrate the friendship between botanical artist Mary Delany and other well-connected women in Britain in the 1700s.

According to the New York Times, the box is enamelled with four miniature portraits celebrating the relationship between the Duchess of Portland, Mrs Delany and two other noblewomen.

"It's a chaste version of the 'Sex and the City' foursome, with each woman costumed and accessorised in her own flattering way," writer Karen Rosenberg says.

Also on display at the exhibition is a set of needlework tools crafted from gold that were given to Mrs Delany by her friend Queen Charlotte in 1781, seven years before the former's death.

 

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