Images(4)

Document box

Date1750-1790

OriginEngland

MediumDeal, leather, iron, and paper

DimensionsOH: 5 1/2"; OW: 13"; OD: 7 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1939-74

DescriptionBox with flat bottom, straight sides, and low domed hinged lid, coverd in reddish tooled and gilt leather; iron hasp on front of lid, rectangular iron lock in center of front; iron bail handled in center of lid; gilt tooling on lid includes a center square/diamond divided into four sections each with a crown over GR, with small and large gilt foliate motifs around and a gilt vine border around edges of top and along edges of front; front has four of the larger foliate motifs flanking lock; inside lined with paper printed with pages from the "Journals of the House of Commons," with the date May 8, 1651 in the text.
Label TextLockable, small leather covered boxes like this example were used for the storage and transportation of paper documents as well as other personal or household items. Most such boxes in colonial America were made in Britain. Embossed with motifs including a crown over the inititals "GR", representing George Rex (King George of England), these boxes could have been made between 1714 and the 1830s (the duration of the reigns of George I through George IV), but most dated examples were that are known were produced after 1760. This box's late 19th century ownership in a Williamsburg, Virginia home suggests it may have been in the colonial capital prior to the American Revolution.
ProvenanceVendor wrote in a letter to James Cogar Oct. 29, 1938 that "I am not in a position to give you much background beyond the fact that it came from a Williamsburg attic. My grandparents lived in the Travis House before the turn of the century for a number of years. Whether it was acquired at that time or was a family piece I cannot say. I do recall that I was told it was my grandmothers." (copy of letter in Object File) Vendor's grandmother who lived in Williamsburg was Mary Sophia Houston Trevillian (1838-1914), wife of Charles Braxton Trevillian (1838-1918).