Eighteenth century French straw-work box

[France-Paris], ca1750. Overall in very good condition with some small spots of surface wear.. Oak box meas. appx. 85 x 195 x 140 mm.. The box has been covered in dyed straw marquetry. Here the application mimics the 17th century "Hungarian stitch" (a type of needlework with a colored flame-shaped pattern). The box is lined in paper, daub blotted with a blue color. Hook and eye clasp.

Commencing in the late 17th century straw marquetry was manufactured in many large cities throughout Europe. The first mention of such decorative objects and furniture is in Paris in 1652. General commerce in such goods was established by the 1750s when both Chervain and Delasson had workshops in Paris producing decorative objects with straw marquetry. The straw was first dyed then split length-wise and flattened with hammer blows. The marquetry pattern was then laid out and glued to paper that was mounted directly on to the object to be covered. Color dyes were fugitive (a result of lack of penetration into the cellulose wall structure of the straw) and rapidly faded in direct sunlight. The same process was also used as a book binding decoration. See Michael Peppiatt, Architectural Digest, August, 1994; Barbara Scott, Country Life, January, 1992; see "La Marqueterie de Paille", Hôtel de Sens, Bibliotheque Forney, winter 1992.