A Winter's Tale

Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and the notion of a harbinger of spring are perfect partners. They are themes that blend harmoniously and have inspired a micro-marquetry design on a tiny trinket box.

The beautiful box encompasses ideas taken from the play’s theme of changing seasons and also from the symbol of the March hare, representing the goddess of regeneration. Shakespeare immortalised the arrival and passing of one particular spring, whilst the March hare is the goddess of regeneration for each year.

This walnut box is petite and tactile being only 6.25 inches long and 2.25 inches wide. The marquetry design is inlayed into fine butt walnut and is made of 100 pieces of timber per square inch. The exterior of the lid depicts the harbinger alert amidst a wild flower meadow and the inside of the lid details each flower of Shakespeare's monologue of a winter's tale, as one spring flower gives way through the passing of time to another until summer arrives.

 

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