Notes

'Following England’s conquest of Jamaica from Spain in 1655, Port Royal developed into a major city of the English Americas. Fuelled by pirate raids on Spanish galleons and ports and a growing plantation economy based on the enslavement of Africans, the city flourished with a wealth of fashionable imported goods and a plethora of local pewterers, silversmiths, blacksmiths, shipwrights and other tradesmen. This prosperity ended suddenly on 7 June 1692, when a massive earthquake swept two thirds of the city under the ocean.
The present casket is similar in the engraving and form to an example sold by Christie’s on 24 September 2007. Fine engraved tortoiseshell combs recently attributed to Paul Bennett and to his follower Matthew Comberford (Fl. 1688- 1692) are now in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (Museum no. 2018.7.1–.3), the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (Museum No. 524 to B-1877) and the collection of the Institute of Jamaica. The tortoiseshell case and combs are among the earliest surviving works of art made in Jamaica that reflect European influence. The style of the decoration suggests that they were all made by the same unknown artist. The newly awarded arms of Jamaica are engraved on these combs; the same arms that are found on this present lot.'
https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-jamaican-school- 1675-a-jamaican-tortoiseshell-casket-4966339/?from=searchresults&intObjectID=4966339&sid=3acd 9e76-a33c-4073-895a-  f787ab0dedc
https://www.chiswickauctions.co.uk/auction/
lot/37-tw0-rare-and-important-late-17th-centuryjamaican-colonial-engraved-tortoiseshell-wigcombs/? lot=144484&sd=164