This small boxes in the form of a tomato is a part of a long history of bibelots inspired by natural forms, from the gold snuffboxes shaped as flowers made in Paris in the 1730s, through the fruit-form scent bottles produced by the Chelsea porcelain manufactory in the mid-eighteenth century to the gold mounted hardstone bonbonnières created by Fabergé’s workmasters at the turn of the twentieth century. The firm of Carlo Illario e Fratelli was founded in 1920 in Valenza, province of Alessandria, by three brothers, Carlo, Vincenzo and Luigi Illario. Winning a reputation for exacting craftsmanship and the use of innovative techniques, they not only designed and made jewels under their own name but also manufactured for leading retailers including Fasano, Faraone and Bulgari. For Bulgari, from the 1950s to the 1970s, they created the iconic serpenti watch bracelets. The inclusion of a star in the mark containing the maker’s numeral and province initials indicates that these pieces were made after two laws of 1968 and 1970 stipulated its presence.

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