Box, Document

Object Name:

Box, Document

Object ID:

1977.061.01

Date:

circa 1820

Description:

Document box. Wood covered with leather. One piece of leather covers front of lid, top, down back surface, and stops before bottom edge where additional strip of leather covers bottom edge and turns under ~0.5" on bottom. Additional piece held in place with iron tacks on back and bottom. Leather on top folded around ends and extends ~0.6". Additional piece of leather covers end of lid at each end of box. Leather joined together by sewing along edge of top piece and through end piece. Leather apron around bottom edge of top, ~1.2" wide. Finished in dark color along with rest of piece. Couple of incised lines along edge of apron. Apron sewn to leather on ends and front. Appears that leather on front and sides glued in place. Apron consists of three pieces of leather joined together at front corners by being sewn. Sewing failed at corners. Leather embossed with intricate geometric design that surrounds handle connection points on top surface. Shallow triangle that extends to right and left edges across front surface with cross-hatching in its interior. Same triangle repeated near back of box on top. Rectangular band going from left to right between long straight edges of triangles. Small, plain, vertical band at outer edge. Next to it, almost square area containing plain diamond shape in its interior. Cross hatching in remaining four triangular sections between diamond and outer box. Same narrow box with diamond motif repeated at other end of lid. Plain space near center of lid enclosed by geometric formations. Leather handle attached to top under the leather in this plain, central area. Handle shallow band sewn to have three longitudinal divisions on its top surface, 1.1" wide x 0.4" thick, with exposed length of 4.6". Handle sewn in such a way as to enclose second piece of leather on its bottom surface; must be some type of stuffing to create slightly-rounded lobes. Two thick round brass discs must be used to secure handle. These rest, one at each end, on plain top surface above extension of handle under leather. Discs ~1" diameter. Leather bent around sides and sewn vertically to end pieces on front and back surfaces of box. Incised line on front at left and right edges extending from top, under apron, and down to base of box. Leather extends to bottom edge where additional strip of leather wraps around bottom edge and fastened in place with iron tacks on front at bottom. Strip covers bottom edge of front; shrunk. Some evidence that big piece of leather on front may be partially wrapped onto bottom surface under secondary strip. 2" wide x 1.6" high brass lock plate on front surface of bottom section, held in place by copper tacks in corners. Keyhole with steel stud in top portion of it near bottom center of lockplate. Roughly parallel sides with slightly rounded bottom for bottom portion of keyhole. Vertically-oriented rectangular hole in upper left corner of lockplate. Two flush steel studs to left and right of keyhole. Hinged brass hasp attached to front of lid underneath apron; top portion of it extends above apron, held in place by at least two brass tacks. Pinched neck extends downward to parallel sides at bottom portion of hasp. Finger tab extends upward slightly from bottom edge of hasp. Hasp included in design due to gap in sewing and thread holders for apron attached to lid. Also, remnants of dark paint on hasp section that protrudes above edge of apron. Two irregular splits in leather on top of lid between handle and front edge, ~3" long. Leather quite thin in this area. Fine textile lining glued in place inside of box. Lined with pink fabric. Textile in several large sections. One can at least see separate end pieces. Textile wrapped onto mating surface of bottom section. Some bumps appear to be hinges for lid on back top edge of bottom section. Staining that may be rust on iron fasteners. Small lip of wood applied around inside edge of lid; slightly sunken to accommodate panel flush with edge surface. Panel hinged at bottom edge and captured in place by two brass pivoting hooks at its top edge. Central leather pull tab on edge of lid piece, held in place by large flathead fastener. Similar fasteners used to pivots of brass hooks. Left hand brass loop in place in lid. Right hand brass loop loose pulled free, but stuck in compartment lid. Bent over tabs are bottom sections for fastener of brass loop and finger pull on backside of compartment lid. Separate lid compartment lined with blue and gray printed textile. Light blue background with darker blue printed over it and constitutes very fine fanciful abstract, but repeated pattern. On top of that, gray track of small dots and fanciful formations reminiscent of so-called "worm-track" design. Design repeat in one direction, 2.7"; in right-angle direction, repeat ~2.4". Textile glued to interior surface of lid throughout. For some reason, pink wrapped around edge of lid compartment, extending ~1" onto blue textile. Brass plate on lid, engraved "Dr. McFarland."; 2.3" long x 1.2" wide; appears to be thin sheet with edges rolled over slightly; corners crimped to add decoration and deal with excess metal.

Material:

Wood
Leather
Textile
Metal
Brass
Iron
Copper
Steel

Dimensions:

H-8.5 W-15.2 D-10 inches Weight-100.15 oz

Provenance:

Thought to have belonged to Rev. Asa McFarland (1769-1827) of Concord, NH.

Credit Line:

New Hampshire Historical Society Purchase

People:

McFarland, Asa (1769-1827)

Subjects:

Boxes, Documents