$21,600
Paint-decorated Dome-top Box, attributed to the "Compasswork Decorator" of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1800-40, the rectangular dovetail-constructed pine and poplar box with sheet iron and wire hinges and punch-decorated sheet iron hasp, the top and sides ornamented with compass-incised, red and white hand-painted flower blossoms and foliage, on a blue ground, ht. 9, wd. 13 1/4, dp. 9 1/2 in. Provenance: Collection of Ruth and James O. Keene, the interior of the box lid bearing their "K" inventory number (K 532); Walters-Benisek, purchased in 1996. Literature: The box is illustrated in the exhibition catalog American Folk Arts from the Collection of James and Ruth O. Keene, The Detroit Institute of Arts, March 1-26, 1960 , No. 15, p. 24; and a similar example is illustrated in The Pennsylvania German Collection , by Beatrice B. Garvan, Philadelphia Museum of Art, p. 15. Note: Similar works by this maker can be found in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2013-10-27