Tunbridge Ware is named after its place of manufacture which was Tunbridge Wells in Kent, although similar pieces were made in the neighbouring town of Tonbridge. The decoration typically consists of a mosaic of many very small pieces of different coloured woods. All the pieces were made from natural wood and about forty different varieties were used; even the green colour seen here is from natural wood being "green oak" which is produced by the action of fungus on fallen oak. It was produced in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but the most famous makers worked between 1830 and 1900. A wide range of articles were produced, many of which were bought as souvenirs by visitors to Tunbridge Wells, and the shapes included cribbage boards, writing slopes and boxes of various forms. This piece was most likely intended to contain brushes or pens and might have accompanied a writing box in the same style Dating is most likely towards the end of the ninetenth century after which production gradually ceased as the craftsmen became scarce and fashions changed.