Antique c.1750s French Vernis Martin and 18k Billet Doux, Sweet Notes, Love Letter Etui, Painting Staffordshire and a spot lower left

and a spot lower left (her bodice) that looks to have been touched up at some time

This one even has what appears to be the original skeleton key

so it was not originally a sugar casket as I initially posited

vines flanking a marvelous horn blowing figure

There is also text on the back of the chromalith and we have enlarged pictures of it (front and back)

Antique c.1750s French Vernis Martin and 18k Billet Doux, Sweet Notes, Love Letter Etui, Painting Staffordshire and a spot lower leftI just love these old things. The history is as fun as the object. These are rare! What some think might be a cigar case is, instead, a 1700s "billet doux", or directly translated, "sweet note". The case is that into which love notes, invitations to clandestine trysts and such words of love would be sent by courier to one's beloved. Marriage being what it was among elites and titled persons in Marie Antoinette's era and earlier, one did not always