Images(7)

Beadwork Casket

Date1650-1675

OriginEngland

MediumDeal, glass beads, silk, linen, gilt, gesso, glass, cork, pewter

DimensionsOH: 4 1/2" x OW: 7 1/2" x OD: 5"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1963-20,A

DescriptionThis is a rectangular beadwork box with straight sides and a flat lid hinged at the back and covered with white silk worked with multicolored clear and opaque glass beads. The top has a portrait of a woman flanked on either side by large flowers. The front of the box has an old iron key fitted into a brass escutcheon plate with designs of a fruit tree, flowering plant, squirrel, and sun surrounding it. The (viewer's) right side of the box shows a bird perched on a tree branch, with two flowers flanking it. There is a snail in the bottom left corner. The fabric onto which the beads are secured has disintegrated in some areas, revealing the linen base and the underdrawings. The back of the box is plain, with just a silk base. There was likely originally a bead worked panel on it. The left side of the box shows a bird on a fruit tree. It is flanked by two large flowers. Some of the silk has disintegrated to reveal the linen canvas below.

The interior of the casket is lined with salmon-colored silk on the lid interior and the sides. The interior is partitioned into six equal spaces, each of which is covered with a matching salmon velvet. Each space contains a squat, clear glass bottle fitted with a pewter lid. Several of the bottles have corks stuck in their necks. Four of the bottles maintain seventeenth-century (but perhaps not original) labels. The middle bottom on the top row reads, "Colick water," the middle bottom on the bottom row reads, "Spirits Rosmary," the bottle in the top right corner reads, "Sinomond [?] water," and the bottle in the bottom right corner reads, "Aqua mirabilis."

The box rests on four ball feet that are covered with gesso and gilt.
Label TextThis casket, which features a female figure, is entirely decorated in beads. This kind of needlework, called beadwork, was commonly practiced by teenaged girls from wealthy families in late seventeenth-century England. The box's maker carefully crafted stylized humans, animals, insects, plants, and flowers out of miniscule beads, resulting in scenes that still maintain their vibrancy and glistening richness.
InscribedFour labels on the glass bottles inside the casket survive. They read, "Colick water," "Spirits Rosmary," "Sinomond [?] water," and "Aqua mirabilis."
MarkingsNone