Box
1800-1900 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This small box would have been made to hold steel knitting needles, a valuable bit of domestic equipment in a society when most things about the house were made at home, but these could only be purchased, from a shop or a pedlar. The box was probably carved by a man for his wife or a young woman he was courting. The tradition of carving small items as presents was widespread, particularly in northern Europe and the designs are intricate and elaborate. Not only is this box finely decorate, it originallyhad a complicated opening mechanism, involving swivelling one part of the lid to allow another part to be slid forward. You can see the diagonal line where the two parts of the lid originally met, but it has been modified more recently and the two parts are now joined and loosely held in place with the removeable pegs.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 4 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Birch, with carved decoration |
| Brief description | A long, narrow box for knitting needles, of birch, carved in the solid, with a separate lid that now lifts off. The sides are carved with serpentine designs of leaves and flowers. |
| Physical description | A long, narrow box for knitting needles, of birch, carved in the solid, with a separate lid that now lifts off. The sides are carved with serpentine designs of leaves and flowers, in low relief in recessed panels. The ends are carved with versions of fleurs-de-lys ornament. The carving on the top may include Icelandic lettering. The lid is now rather loosely fixed with two pegs but for its original method of opening, see the entry for Museum no. 362-1870. On this box the smaller section, which would originally have pivoted from one of the pegs, has clearly been glued in place to a lower layer of plain birch, and the current peg fixing allows some degree of fixing. The interior is fitted with two compartments, one much shorter than the other. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | Pojóne stokker No. 11 (Written in ink on a paper label stuck to the underside of the box. The label also includes the Museum inventory number. ) |
| Summary | This small box would have been made to hold steel knitting needles, a valuable bit of domestic equipment in a society when most things about the house were made at home, but these could only be purchased, from a shop or a pedlar. The box was probably carved by a man for his wife or a young woman he was courting. The tradition of carving small items as presents was widespread, particularly in northern Europe and the designs are intricate and elaborate. Not only is this box finely decorate, it originallyhad a complicated opening mechanism, involving swivelling one part of the lid to allow another part to be slid forward. You can see the diagonal line where the two parts of the lid originally met, but it has been modified more recently and the two parts are now joined and loosely held in place with the removeable pegs. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 715-1888 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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