How fabulous is she??? I take her for a burlesque performer in this very excellent outfit, complete with high boots and helmet-like hat, and it seems just right that she be dangling what looks to me like a couple of cherries from her lowered hand. I take the box for a glove box, just long enough to house the very gloves she has on. What makes this especially special to me is that it is inscribed, via inlay, on the exterior rear side (and dated 1897)--my guess, though I don't know for sure, is that it was made as a gift to the maker's favorite burlesque star! Italian I believe, and and I believe this sort of marquetry would be called intarsia. And what an extraordinary lot of work, each of these tiny bits of wood laid down one by one. There are a few losses here and there, mostly along the edges, as documented, but what a marvelous and special feeling thing. The rear, signed side looks to me to read Nani Pocolo (and then one more word I can't quite discern, probably a last name), Made 1897.
16 1/4" l x 5 1/16" w x 5 1/8" t. Good overall condition, sound and stable. Some losses to the inlay as documented, mostly along edges. Hinges in good shape, lid closes flush.
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