A pair of related black and gilt-japanned flower-boxes, with glasses and rods to support the flowers, is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. ed., 1954, vol. II, p. 238, fig. 1.
These vases were once part of the remarkable collection of the Earls of Ashburnham at Ashburnham Place in Sussex, where the family had been established from the 12th Century. The house was rebuilt after the Civil War in 1675-76 and remodelled and refaced for the 2nd Earl circa 1760. It underwent further alterations in the 19th Century, and following the death of Lady Catherine Ashburnham in 1953 the majority of the contents were sold. The house is now a Christian conference centre.