Japanned Tin Tray with Peacock Garden Decoration

• Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
• Japanning - Japanning is the early eighteenth century technique used by European craftsmen to imitate the oriental style lacquer work that became popular in England, France, the Netherlands, and Spain in the 17th century.
  
  The lacquer used was based on the lac beetle dissolved in alcohol (as used in French polish) and differed from the Chinese lacquer which was based on tree sap.
  
  Each layer of the lacquer was allowed to dry and then sanded down. It was applied over cream, yellow, green, red, or black grounds. Japanning using gold leaf was also widely used with lacquer work. The technique can be found on bureaux, cabinets, chests, longcase clocks, and chairs.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• tin - metalware 92
• tole ware and tin, material - trays 56
• trays, material - tin and toleware 59