A PAIR OF CLASSICAL MAHOGANY KNIFEBOXES

Details
A PAIR OF CLASSICAL MAHOGANY KNIFEBOXES
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, 1815-1825

Each of circular form with boldly reeded body and domed lid veneered with radiating flitches of mahogany and with carved and gilded pineapple finials opening to a stepped slotted interior, on knife-edge ring-turned support and square burl veneer base (minor patche to side of one base; finials regilt with bronze powder)--25 3/8in. high, 12¾in. diam.
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Lot Essay

An identical pair of knifeboxes is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and on exhibit in the furniture study collection. Both pair exhibit the same construction features whereby the support is round-tenoned into the base and wedged with a wooden cylinder; the radiating veneer flitches of the domed lid are on the interior as well as exterior; the dome, where extended, is supported by two flaps on either side of the shaft. Another related pair attributed to Philadelphia is illustrated in Venable, American Furniture in the Bybee Collection (Austin, Univeristy of Texas Press, 1989), fig. 45.