Description

A rare, early Sewing Box with glazed reverse mirror, naively decorated, and framed with boxwood and stained sycamore. The top features a quaint, scholastic themed engraved silk picture. The interior has a pale blue ruched silk lined lid and is fitted with a removable sewing tray, with a mixture of sewing tools and accessories.

This wonderful sewing box comes complete with a fully working lock and tasselled key.

When we acquire sewing boxes (also known as work or needlework boxes), it’s always a pleasure to see what’s inside them, and to imagine and how ladies used each one differently. We often find many sewing tools, pin cushions, sewing patterns etc, as well as mysterious items we have not come across before. We keep boxes’ original contents intact as much as possible, as we feel removing them is detrimental to the history and character of the box.

Needlework & embroidery were the main pass-time of Georgian ladies. Their tools & materials were first kept in sewing baskets or pouches, until wooden Sewing Boxes became highly fashionable around the 1770s. They were often decorated according to the lady’s own style & personal taste, sometimes by the lady herself. Some were also pre-fitted with tools such as tape measures, thread reels & thimbles.

By the late 1800s, sewing boxes remained popular but styles became more basic & commercially made.

Additional information