Hanging Wall Box for Sara Hoch17997 3/8 x 14 1/2 x 6 1/4 " (18.7 x 36.8 x 15.9 cm)Paint and ink on woodGift of the Historical Society of Early American Decoration, courtesy Katherine and Wilson Brazer58.13.3801548734215John DrisselContainersThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster24596United StatesPennsylvaniaThree Dimensional WorksThis is one of a group of small boxes and tape looms that are inscribed with the names of young women who attended one of three schools operated in Pennsylvania by Lutheran schoolmaster Johann Adam Eyer. The Sara Hoch listed in Eyer's school register for 1786 may have been the recipient of this decorated wall-hung box. The boxes and tape looms were made and decorated by John Drissel, a son of a Mennonite carpenter who was living in Milford Township by 1787. The box is of dovetail construction and is decorated in paint in a calligraphic frakturlike style. The front is ruled in ink into five reserves, the central portion with Hoch's name and "Anno 1799" inscribed over a flower. A large compartment on either side contains a motif of a single closed tulip and a smaller flower and leaf design, the whole bordered by a single wavy line.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Hanging Wall Box for Sara Hoch," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 300.http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster24596http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster24596http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster2459617991799 58 13 38 This is one of a group of small boxes and tape looms that are inscribed with the names of young women who attended one of three schools operated in Pennsylvania by Lutheran schoolmaster Johann Adam Eyer. The Sara Hoch listed in Eyer's school register for 1786 may have been the recipient of this decorated wall-hung box. The boxes and tape looms were made and decorated by John Drissel, a son of a Mennonite carpenter who was living in Milford Township by 1787. The box is of dovetail construction and is decorated in paint in a calligraphic frakturlike style. The front is ruled in ink into five reserves, the central portion with Hoch's name and "Anno 1799" inscribed over a flower. A large compartment on either side contains a motif of a single closed tulip and a smaller flower and leaf design, the whole bordered by a single wavy line.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Hanging Wall Box for Sara Hoch," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 300.