Marquetry

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Another load of boxes for the auction today. I thought I'd share two of my favorite pieces we're selling.

This sweet piece is a bust of a young Chinese girl. She's from an artist named Esther Hunt. This is one of the pieces I hate to part with, but I feel the need to divest myself of treasures, so away she goes!


This is an interesting pair of "paintings" Actually, they're serigraphs printed on acrylic. Each is two pieces of art, layered about an inch apart, which gives them a real sense of depth.

They're quite large, approximately thirty inches square.


We took many more pieces, but these were the most interesting.

When we got home, we worked some more, and I gathered up my collection of inlaid wooden boxes.

This technique is referred to as marquetry. I love the precision of the designs. Most of these are from Japan, and originally sold for very little.

This is my very first piece. I remember when I was in the eighth grade, my home-ec teacher sent home a list of required items, one being a recipe box. This one caught my eye and was the start of the collection.

I bought it for $.89 at a Sprouse Reitz. Remember Sprouse Reitz?

Many of the marquetry boxes are puzzle boxes.
You pushed a panel here,
tugged a panel there,
slid pieces around
until the whole thing opened
to reveal an inner box.

Lots of these pieces feature Scottie dogs.

Many of them were cigarette boxes.

This one slides back
like a roll top desk.
then three cigarettes would slide out.

This is a piece of doll furniture.
It's about five inches tall.

Another cigarette box.
Again, a Scottie dog.

The detail just blows me away.
Even the inside of the drawer is inlaid.

This next piece is an amazing box.
Somewhat larger than the other pieces,
it's also a music box.

When the music plays,
the pictures in the little window
changes to different scenes of Japan.

When opened,
it's like a whole vending machine
of smoking paraphernalia.

The cigarettes in the holes
move up and down,
like a calliope.

These next pictures are all puzzle boxes.

Most have a different scene
on the top and the bottom.

These used to be somewhat common

but now they seem to
have mostly disappeared.

I wonder how much these would sell for
if they were still in production today?

This is the final one,
a small roll top pencil box.

All of these fit in a box
about the size of two shoe boxes,
so this is most likely a collection
I'll be keeping.

Or maybe not,
we'll just have to see how the auction goes.

This is beginning to be a bit of fun.