Here we have an extremely rare watercolour box by Charles Roberson. I have never had or even seen another box like this in the past 40 years!
Charles Roberson set up in business in around 1820 and went onto became the preeminent artists materials supplier of the 19th century. His boxes are now some of the most sought after and collectible for good reason, the quality is obvious.
This boxes original label is present along with many hidden treasures. Firstly, there is a large ceramic palette which is stamped with the makers name. Also the original (and beautiful) water bowl is here too along with the eight original glass pigment jars as follows -
Emerald Green
Crimson Lake
Lamp Black
Carmine
Gamboge
Cadmium
French Ultramarine
Vermillion
There are also two empty (but original and labelled) bottles of refined colorless gall and prepared gum water. The fact that all of these original glass items along with the palette have survived this long is quite miraculous. Finally there is an assortment of pen nibs underneath the palette. To top it all off, it even has its original key which works!
In my opinion it probably dates to around the 1850s. I think the condition of the box is very good for its age and still as useable as it always was. A truly rare find!