Description:
Chinese export octagonal black lacquer sewing box with one drawer decorated with finely painted gold Chinese garden scenes with figures and buildings, some highlighted in red, 2 brass bail handles on the sides, and 4 gilt dragon feet. This box descended in the family of the donor. According to family history, Alexander Wylly Habersham (1826-1883) of Annapolis, Maryland, brought the box back as a souvenir of his adventures in China. From 1851 to 1852, Habersham was on duty with the Coast Survey, and was made acting lieutenant of the store ship "J. P. Kennedy" in 1853. While aboard the "Kennedy", he sailed with a United States surveying and exploring expedition to the North Pacific and China seas. Later assigned to Hong Kong, Habersham served as acting master of the "John Hancock" in 1854, leading another exploring expedition. Lacquerware furniture was typically of lightweight and rather delicate construction. Chinese artisans first created the wooden form or core for the objects, which were most often sewing tables, desks, card tables, gaming tables, or boxes copied from Western models sent to China or adapted from design books. After painting and priming the core, worker applied lacquer (the sap of the Rhus veniciflua tree); the first extremely thin coating took several days to dry. After the first coating had hardened, a second followed, and thereafter possibly a third. In later periods, lacquered objects with as many as several dozen layers became common. Workers mixed one of several pigments, often lampblack and cinnabar, into the liquid lacquer to use as paint; the final colorless coating acted as a protective skin. The hinged cover with lock and key opens to a removable, sectional tray with 15 compartments (2 with covers) for the storage of carved ivory needlework tools (sewing birds, needle cases, spools, thimbles, gauges, thread winders, etc.) and a red silk-covered pin cushion. Many of these sewing boxes are outfitted with writing surfaces and storage areas for pens, inks, and watercolors; this example has a sliding lower drawer that can be pulled out when writing correspondence, or propped up as an easel when sketching.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+85.063 |
