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Early 20th-century tramp art box featuring a distinctive beehive form raised on a stepped pedestal base. The heavily worked construction incorporates numerous stacked and chip-carved layers, with an impressive 17 layers forming the graduated top alone. Fluted accent bands interrupt the dense geometric carving and add variation to the surface, while a faceted glass knob crowns the lid. The unusually elaborate layering gives the box a strong architectural and sculptural presence.
11 x 11 x 10 inches
Tramp art was popular from roughly the 1870s through the 1940s. No one knows for sure how the practice got started, but the materials used to make it, especially wooden cigar boxes, had become standard around the 1850s. Cigar smoking was very popular at the time, and by law, the boxes couldn't be reused by cigar manufacturers, so there were plenty of them around. The people who made tramp art weren't trained artists. They taught themselves how to chip the wood and assemble objects. Some sources suggest that tramp art was made by itinerant workers and tradesmen, which means they traveled from place to place selling goods and services. But not all tramp art was made by wanderers or people without permanent homes. It took time and patience to assemble tramp art objects.
Very good, vintage condition with wear consistent with age / use.