The painted decoration of the box displays an unusual combination of sources. The central figures on the lid of two young ladies sheltering under a parasol held by a turbanned page derive from a print by Nicolas de Larmessin III (1685 1755) after Nicolas Lancret (1690–1743) entitled Les oyes du frère Philippe. The painting illustrates one of La Fontaine’s Fables and shows an innocent young man encountering girls for the first time. When he enquires what they might be, Brother Philippe replies that they are only geese. In the present version, the figures of Brother Philippe and his charge have been replaced by a merchant showing the young ladies a rumpled and shackled bare-legged figure seated among his barrels and bales to their evident discomfiture.
The interior of the lid is painted with a park view taken directly from a print by Jan van Call (1656–1703) entitled De Seswegh by de Faunus from a collection Admirandorum Quadruplex Spectaculum published around 1715. The rest of the box is painted with figure groups in landscapes with distant castles and churches on hills above rivers, also very reminiscent of other prints in the series by van Call.

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