Phoebe Anna Traquair Art Nouveau Copper String Box

Description

Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852 – 1936) rainbow-enamelled brass-mounted copper string box, circa 1905-06, with strapwork design centered on a circular rainbow enamel medallion. The front has similar motifs, sides are adorned with with rainbow enamel punts, and one side fitted with a scissors holder.

Dimensions: 3 inches high by 4 inches wide and 3.25 inches deep.

Provenance: Purchased from Showplace Backstage – Auctions at Showplace, Astoria, NY, U.S.A. who obtained this piece from a Manhattan collector. An identical string box was sold (Penrith Farmers & Kidds, Penrith, June 30, 2004, lot 462).

About Phoebe Anna Traquair: Phoebe Anna Moss was born in Ireland on May 24, 1852, in Kilternan, County Dublin, to physician Dr. William Moss and Teresa Moss (née Richardson). She was the sixth of their seven children. Traquair studied art at the School of Design of the Royal Dublin Society between 1869 and 1872. She married the Scottish paleontologist Ramsay Heatley Traquair on June 5, 1873. They moved to Edinburgh in the spring of 1874. Phoebe became an internationally known member of the Scottish Arts and Crafts movement. Read more on the National Museums Scotland website, HERE.