Here is a very rare watercolour box by James Newman. I have only had one other box like this in the past 40 years, which was sold. Here is a little about him and his business.
James Newman's great business commenced in the last quarter of the 18th century and lasted for a very long time. When we consider the great competition he was up against all through his business lifetime, what emerges (at least to my mind), is that at the very least, he was getting things right. Of course most often people get things right, not in one moment of inspiration (although of course that can happen) but in the business of selling items and the service providing it, sometimes takes what is known as a learning curve. The business for example, will actively look at what it his client actually wants and needs. We all at sometimes need to go back to the drawing board, and go back before we can move forward. This has been my experience I don’t mind saying.
Mr Newman made a great many different box types. Boxes small and large metal or wood etc. The types that certainly in modern times have become quite sought after are the large ones with a beautiful label on the inside of the lid. Sometimes these are leather and look very grand. These boxes in good condition appear to have evaporated in recent times and when available have shot up in value. Depending on where one looks they have doubled in value in the last 3 to 5 years which is quite remarkable. Will they do that again? I wouldn’t be at all surprised! Not even a bit!
As I’ve said these grand boxes often have an elaborate label and so tend to stand out. They often (though certainly not always) have a pen tray at the box front very similar to a writing slope. Indeed I think that these boxes were intended as a cross over where the watercolour box is also a writing box. When I think on this it actually becomes really quite a good idea for all sorts of reasons. A watercolour box and a writing slope are both very personal things and if at the same time one could acquire some of the profits of the slope makers so much the better perhaps. However I don’t think the design happened over night. 
Now onto this particular box, which is a lot like one of Mr Newman's grand boxes. It is just a tiny amount smaller in size than the famed ones, so is an imposing box and possibly one of the reasons that they are so popular, in that so many useful items can be gathered inside. This of course equates to usefulness and this size also gives them great presence, then as now and so this is similar in size. It is beautifully made, again from a lovely mahogany. 
The grand boxes I’ve talked about have a box lid with sides, so they look like another box on the main body. It is here that the grand label is housed. Now this box has the type whereby a single piece of wood is used, which would usually indicate an earlier construction, as the majority of boxes before did use this type of design. It’s not surprising that it works well and was used much later by other makers. 
The internal part of the box follows quite a conventional setup in that we have a large paint tray with a void beneath. There is a central ceramic palette which is not stamped but of an early design being thick and heavy. We shouldn’t become disappointed when we find no stamped palette or case label as we often do with this maker. Mr Newman as did others supplied boxes to the retail trade probably in great numbers and it appears that shop owners didn’t want and certainly didn’t need the likes of Mr Newman getting free advertising. If a potential client saw a beautiful watercolour box in a shop window with a Newman label they might think to themselves it might be cheaper to buy direct and cut out the middle man who is most assuredly making a profit. 
We can see the pen tray design at the very front of the box and two glass water bowls are here too (as one would expect in a very expensive box for the time). There is also a larger ceramic palette in the lower drawer and this one is stamped with the makers name, (and I have pictured this).
The large paint tray (in common with the grand boxes) is large and carries a full set of paints and several show the Newman name. These include -
Roman Oche
Prussian Blue
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna (About half left)
A blue colour possibly Cobalt
I can’t identify the others, as there name has been worn away by time, however they all look old and I’m sure that they would work. I often say in these listings that paints are consumables which is true but they are also a reflection of the artist’s preferences. For these reasons, paints are often changed which helps to explain why the paints here don’t necessarily coincide with the little paper labels that accompany the paint wells in the tray. That said, it’s great that these labels are still present as I believe they suffer early on, as they are of course often in a wet environment and they are secured with a water soluble glue! There is also the original key present which still functions.
In my opinion it dates to the 1820s or before which is wonderfully early for a Newman box. Personally I see this a something akin to an evolutionary step to get to the grand boxes (1830-1850) which when all considered is very unusual.
I believe the condition of the box to be very good indeed. There are a few marks here and there to be expected for something this old but it’s looking well for its age and still very useable.
All in all, we have here a box that perhaps in some way, out does the richly labelled boxes, in that it is so much rarer. It still has the imposing presence and the pedigree of a great maker and supplier, who was so important all through the 19th century and is just as comprehensive and beautiful.