A FEDERAL INLAID MAHOGANY AND FLAME BIRCH WORK BOX

BOSTON AREA, POSSIBLY WEEDON COLE (B. 1800), GLOUCESTER AND BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1815

Details

A FEDERAL INLAID MAHOGANY AND FLAME BIRCH WORK BOX
Boston area, possibly Weedon Cole (b. 1800), Gloucester and Beverly, Massachusetts, circa 1815
The rectangular hinged top with banded edge centering an inlaid oval patera over a conforming case centering an oval inlaid reserve above lunette banding, on ball feet, the underside of the lid with handwritten pencil inscription, Thankful Herrick Her Box given unto her by Weedon Cole in the year 1815
6¼in. high, 11in. wide, 7¾in. deep

Provenance

Thankful (Lufkin) Herrick (b. 1778) or her daughter, Thankful Herrick (b. 1803)

Lot Essay

Exquisitely inlaid with lunette motifs, this work box illustrates the Boston area's distinct Federal style as established and influenced by the city's renowned cabinetmakers, John and Thomas Seymour. The pencilled inscription indicates the box's first owner and possibly its maker. In 1815, the Herrick-Cole Family of Gloucester, Massachusetts included three Weedon Coles (a grandfather, son and grandson) and two Thankful Herricks (a mother and daughter). Weedon Cole II (b. 1772) and Thankful (Lufkin) Herrick (b. 1778) were brother and sister-in-law, making Weedon Cole III (b. 1800) and Thankful Herrick (b. 1803) first cousins. Listed as a cabinetmaker born in Gloucester and working in Beverly, Weedon Cole III may have made this box as a fifteen-year old apprentice. See Lucius C. Herrick, Herrick Genealogy (Privately printed, 1885), pp. 174-175, 196 and Ethel Hall Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America (Garden City, NY, 1957), p. 68.

More from Important American Furniture, Prints, Folk Art and

View All