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Chip carved wood display box with a single glass window pane and two wooden sides, double crescent forms and spheres to the top, medial fitted with a cross-form steeple, raised on four short legs, interior of base with "COSMO" print, probably from a wooden crate/box. First half 20th century. 14" HOA, 6 1/2" SQ overall.
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.
Provenance:
From the Catherine Thuro Collection, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Condition
Very good overall condition, expected wear and minute imperfections to the wood, one side lacking glass pane, one piece of carving detached.