RARE SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VIRGINIA PAINT-DECORATED BENTWOOD OVAL BOX, yellow pine and poplar, covered form of lapped construction secured with wire staples and wire nails. Retains outstanding original polychrome decoration featuring three different stylized floral devices, all in red, white, and blue against a dark green ground, line and dot geometric decoration to cover flange. Circa 1800. 5 1/2" H, 14 1/2" L, 9 1/2" W.
Literature: Parallels Garvin - The Pennsylvania German Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, p. 13, fig. 15; and Little - Neat and Tidy, p. 99, fig. 103. See Pook & Pook - The Pioneer Americana Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Donald Shelley, April 20-21, 2007, lot 739 for an example signed and inscribed by Jacob Barb.
Provenance: From a private collection.
Catalogue Note: The present, fresh-to-the-market box is from a small, but important group of paint-decorated boxes and chests produced by multiple generations of the Barb family in Shenandoah County, Virginia from the 1780s to the 1830s. Attribution for the group is based on the box formerly in the Donald Shelley collection, referenced above, which bears the inked inscription "Jacob Barb This 24th day of August 1831". The group currently consists of nine oval boxes, in three sizes, and two yellow pine chests without drawers. Two of the boxes reside in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Colonial Williamsburg. Both were originally attributed to Pennsylvania, but have now been correctly reattributed. Four of the other boxes descended directly in families living in Shenandoah County. Both of the chests also carry Shenandoah County provenance. Research in preparation for an article on this group is currently underway.
Very good overall condition with minor to moderate scattered wear and discoloration. Horizontal abraded lines to body. Cracks and small loss to cover.