Valuables Box

Valuables Box

Public Domain

Valuables Box
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Valuables Box
  • Spice Box
Datec. 1740–1800
Probable placePennsylvania, United States
MediumBlack walnut; black walnut, chestnut, and yellow-poplar
Dimensions28 1/2 × 16 1/4 × 10 1/4 in. (72.4 × 41.3 × 26 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.65.8
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Queen Anne Bedroom
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The Pennsylvania spice box, like the Rococo high chest, represents the persistence of one form after it had gone out of fashion elsewhere. Spice boxes are known in England and America as early as the seventeenth century and remained popular through the first quarter of the eighteenth century. In the Delaware Valley, specifically Philadelphia and Chester County, they continued to be made throughout the 1700s. The Bayou Bend example is compelling for its juxtaposition of Early and Late Baroque as well as Rococo elements.

Book excerpt: Warren, David B., Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


Provenance[David Stockwell (1907–1996), Philadelphia, 1948] [1]; purchased by Ima Hogg, 1948; given to MFAH, by 1966.

[1] An accompanying tag states the box was acquired from Ira S. Reed, who obtained it from the Caldwell family of Philadelphia and Gap.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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scan from file photograph
Desk-on-Frame
c. 1730–1800
Black walnut; yellow-poplar, red oak, Atlantic white cedar, chestnut, eastern white pine, and black walnut
B.61.82
Desk
Desk
c. 1700–1730
Black walnut, undetermined burl veneer, and eastern white pine; eastern white pine, black walnut, yellow-poplar, cherry, Cuban oyster wood (Gymnanthes lucida), and chestnut
B.69.42
Dressing Table
Dressing Table
c. 1760–1800
Black walnut; black walnut, yellow-poplar and Atlantic white cedar
B.69.78
scan from file photograph
Dressing Table
c. 1760–1800
Black walnut; red gum, Atlantic white cedar, yellow-poplar, southern yellow pine, and eastern white pine
B.69.527
Image Not Available for Dressing Table
Dressing Table
c. 1740–1800
Black walnut; southern yellow pine, Atlantic white cedar, yellow-poplar, and spruce
B.66.15
Pair of Card Tables
Charles Baudouine
Pair of Card Tables
c. 1853–1855
Mahogany; yellow-poplar, black walnut, ash, and primavera
B.74.4.1,.2
Easy Chair
Easy Chair
c. 1740–1795
Black walnut; white oak, soft maple, ash, and yellow-poplar
B.69.31
Étagère
John Henry Belter
Étagère
1855
Rosewood and rosewood veneer; black walnut, mahogany, eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, undetermined exotic wood (possibly eucalyptus), marble, and mirrored glass
B.81.9.10
Table
Table
c. 1700–1730
Black walnut; soft maple, chestnut, and eastern white pine
B.59.71
High Chest of Drawers
High Chest of Drawers
c. 1750–1780
Black-mangrove; black cherry, Atlantic white cedar, black walnut, yelow-poplar, and eastern white pine
B.69.64
Side Chair
Side Chair
c. 1730–1775
Black walnut; black walnut and southern yellow pine
B.69.69
scan from file photograph
Side Chair
c. 1735–1795
Black walnut; black walnut and southern yellow pine
B.69.66