Overall: 5.5cm (2.2in) x 5.5cm (2.2in) x 4.5cm (1.8in)
Silver and enamels. Hexagonal form Japanese presentation silver box, the lift off cover applied with crossed Union Jack and Rising Sun flags, the sides tied with red cord. Marked ‘Sterling’ to the base and impressed with maker’s name of Miyamoto.
The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed in 1902 by the Foreign Secretary Lord Lansdowne and Japanese ambassador Count Hayashi Tadasu. The alliance bound Britain and Japan to assist one another in safeguarding their respective interests in China and Korea. It was a diplomatic milestone that saw an end to Britain’s ‘splendid isolation’ policy. Directed against Russian expansionism in the Far East, it was a cornerstone of British and Japanese policy in Asia until terminated by the Four-Power Pacific Treaty of 1921.