Treasure Under the Bed

04/06/2026

04/06/2026

Sometimes an antique tells you a story before you learn anything about its history.
The first time I held this old Chinese basket in my hands, an image appeared almost instantly.

A small mountain village in China, sometime in the late 19th century.
A healer returns home at dusk. The room is dim and slightly smoky. Incense lingers in the air. A few rays of sunlight find their way through the shadows.
He places the basket gently on the floor and lifts the lid.
Inside are bundles of freshly gathered herbs and a single egg brought by a grateful neighbour. Flowers, roots and leaves waiting to become tomorrow's remedies.

Do I know if this is the basket's true story?
Of course not.
But old objects have a way of speaking to us. Sometimes they invite us to imagine the lives they may have touched and the journeys they may have taken.
And perhaps the strangest part?

Before writing this post, I came home and instinctively filled the basket with herbs.

Maybe that says something about the basket.
Or maybe it says something about me.

🌿 Antique Chinese woven basket box
Available in my shop.

https://treasuresunderthebed.etsy.com/listing/4516209461

21/04/2026

Trinket Boxes

Small and charming. They bring to mind hidden treasures, secret notes, forgotten stories.

Slightly dusty on a grandmother's shelf, they would spark a child's imagination often transforming into a miniature bed for a tiny doll.

Today, they serve mostly as collectors' items. Used for centuries, already known in ancient Egypt and Rome. Their "Golden Era" falls in the 18th century. Back then, they were not just small containers for pills or trinkets, they were symbols of social status and wealth. A bit like a Thermomix on today's kitchen countertop Porcelain, gold, silver... and for those less wealthy, silver-plated.

Beautifully decorated, often intricately inlaid, they were meant to inspire admiration I and perhaps a little envy from a neighbour stealing a glance.

In modern times, attempts to bring them back feel more like an echo of the 1980s.

Metal or silver-plated boxes, richly decorated, have become more of a sentimental object than an everyday one.

And yet, here I am with two of them in front of me. One with a cat wandering through the grass.

The other decorated with blackberries and a hedgehog, gently touched by patina.

And a thought comes to mind could anything feel more English?

Immediately, I think of "The Wind in the Willows" its peaceful, idyllic world, and those beautiful illustrations capturing the quiet charm of English countryside life.

"For my taste the blackberry cone,

Purples over hedge and stone"

And suddenly you can almost taste childhood, sour blackberries, pricked fingers, and warm sunlight on your face.

Both pieces are currently looking for a new home you can find them in my Etsy shop

Etsy shop: TreasureUnder TheBed
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