Halsey Munson Americana
204 North Summit Avenue
Decatur, Illinois 62522
Phone: 217-972-4645
This web site, web content and all related graphics © 2007-2010 by Halsey Munson Americana, Decatur, Illinois.
All rights reserved.
Stevens Plains Toleware Trunk
Rare early 19th C. American painted tinware trunk with burnt orange ground and decoration in dark red and pale yellow. An extremely unusual trunk in almost every respect. Where the bodies of most 19th C. trunks are built of two pieces, bent at two corners and lapped at the opposite two, the body of this trunk is constructed of four separate pieces with the edges of the trunk face bent back to join the side segments. It’s possible that this may have been necessitated by the shortage of tin during
and immediately after the War of 1812.
The design is equally unusual, with a central dark red rose defined by fine white ribbon strokes and overpainted with alizarin, surrounded by mirrored slender dark green leaves edged in yellow. The form of the unopened buds is seen in early Berlin, CT work but the flame-like delicacy of the smaller yellow-edged leaves is seen only in the decoration of trunks from Stevens Plains, ME, probably the work of Sarah Stevens or her nieces. Both ends of the trunk show green and yellow forms similar to the symmetrical design at the base of the wire handle. The underside of the trunk was never painted.
Ca. 1810-1830. 9¼”W x 5½”D x 6¼”H.
$1,250
