Cigarette Box

Maker Edward F. Caldwell & Company (1895 - 1959)

Datecirca 1917

Mediumwood, gilt-brass, ivory (bone or ivorine?), tin

DimensionsOverall: 2 3/8 × 5 1/16 × 6 3/4 in. (6 × 12.9 × 17.1 cm)

Credit LineReynolda Estate

CopyrightPublic Domain

Object number1922.2.53

DescriptionThe rectangular box with hinged cover is covered with gilded brass. The cover has a heavily molded brass frame of lambrequins and beading that encloses a decorative panel of ivory (or pseudo-ivory). The panel is carved with a variety of Renaissance-style ornaments, including trophies, fruits, scrolls, urns, birds, and small faces. A medallion above the center of the panel encloses a scene of a warrior on horseback trampling a prostrate body. The interior is wood, the inside of the cover having a tin lining with a recessed rectangular area and a removable screen that holds a piece of heavy blotter paper that could be dampened to humidify the contents of the box. The exterior sides of the box, also covered with gilded brass, have a continuous frieze in low relief of figures with swags, cornucopias, footed urns, and other devices reminiscent of Renaissance ornament.
ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]

Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.

Status

On view