Title

Sewing box

Date1800s

Mediumwhale skeletal bone, cloth, non-ferrous metal, cotton

Dimensions8 × 8 3/4 × 11 1/2 in. (20.3 × 22.2 × 29.2 cm)

Object number1959.8.2

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionOval sewing box (ditty box) of panbone (whale skeletal bone) polychrome engraved with pictures of a full-rigged ship and a pilot schooner, tropical shore vignette, circumferential serpentine flowering vine around the skirt of the lid, joint with 13 rat tails on box + 2 on lid; 11 graceful rattails on the side and 2 on the skirt; scalloped gunwale on the lid skirt encloses a tufted fabric pincushion top; non-ferrous metal fastenings.

M. McManus, Treasury of Am. Scrim., 1997, pp. 44f.Label TextMaker once known, sewing box, 1800s. Engraved whale skeletal bone, cloth, non-ferrous metal, and cotton, 8 x 8 3/4 x 11 1/2 in., New Bedford Whaling Museum, 1959.8.2.ProvenanceMartha M. Hinsdale Scrimshaw Collection; Estate of Martha M. Hinsdale, bequeathed 1955.

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