Box

John Thurston

1660–85 · White oak, red oak, yellow pine · The American Wing

Small, rectangular oak boxes with hinged lids were common in seventeenth-century households, where they held important items such as documents, writing implements, books, jewelry, and currency. Like chests with carved decoration, boxes displayed a vocabulary of stylized plant forms and simple geometric shapes. Foliated S-scrolls, as single elements or paired—as on the front of this box and the sides of the cabinet to its right—were widely used.

Artist

John Thurston

Date

1660–85

Medium

White oak, red oak, yellow pine

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1909