Description:
Document or keepsake box decorated with yellow grain painted fron, back and sides; decoupage work in four rows on the hinged top; and sponging on the sides in floral designs. The box is inscribed "Roxannah W Billings Box Deerfield" in ink on the inside of the lid, and has additional pencil inscriptions on the base of the box, including "Roxannah..." Roxana (Roxannah) Wright Billings, born October 19, 1819, was the daughter of Ira Billings (b.1792), a wheelwright from South Deerfield at Bloody Brook) and Eunice (Tryon) Billings (1793-1864). She married her second cousin Charles Williams Billings (b.1815) a pump maker in South Deerfield, on October 19, 1841; Charles was her grandfather's brother's son. It is possible that Roxana Billings was a student at Deerfield Academy, but more research needs to be done on this topic. Roxannah or perhaps a professional fancy-paint decorator, coated this box with yellow paint layered with “megelp,” a brown-hued gel varnish manipulated with a rag into fanciful patterns. She probably cut the line engravings for the decoupage decoration from a variety of sources, possibly including picturebooks printed specifically for scrapbooking hobbyists. She glued her assortment of images that include domesticated farm animals, birds, landscapes and landmark buildings such as London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, in four rows on the lid and finished the design with a coat of transparent varnish. The layout of the resulting creation resembles a page from a scrapbook and suggests a “cabinet of curiosities,” hinting at the variety of collected objects she may have stored within. She expressed her personal interests and tastes through her choice of cuttings for the decoupage decoration, personalizing the box not only with her inscribed name but also with her selection and arrangement of the images. The lid of the box is slightly warped on the right hand side.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2002.62 |
