A SCRIMSHAWED OVAL BALEEN BOX

Details

A SCRIMSHAWED OVAL BALEEN BOX
AMERICAN, POSSIBLY NANTUCKET, SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

The black painted wooden oval lid with bent baleen edges scrimshawed with meandering leaves opening to a conforming interior with baleen sides scrimshawed in depiction of a street scene including trees, a long fence set with hitching posts and street lamps, and two detailed four-story Federal houses--3 7/8in. high, 8¼in. wide, 6¼in. deep

Provenance

Sotheby's New York, The Barbara Johnson Whaling Collection, Part IV, 16 December 1983, lot 218

Literature

Robert Bishop, et al, The Knopf Collector's Guide to American Antiques: Folk Art (New York, 1983), pl. 278

Lot Essay

A closer examination of the decoration on this box reveals that the two houses and their surrounding vegetation are mirror images of each other, thus suggesting front and back views of the same house. Accordingly, such exacting details as the number of plant-filled windows from front to back, the locations of blossoming trees and lanterns, and the contrast of closed street-front door and open garden-back door suggest this rendering is probably a portrait of an actual house.