Napoleonic Prisoner of War Bone Box w/ Cribbage Streets, Shell Inlays, c.1802-1815

Antiques : Cribbage Boards : Napoleonic Bone Box

 

Small rectangular bone box with cribbage streets and shell inlays. It was not sold to me as a Napoleonic prisoner of war product, and I am not an expert in POW art and artifacts. However, it is virtually identical in size, look, and design (with differences in condition) to a Napoleonic POW box from the Kaplan Collection offered at auction at Christie’s in 2006, and so is thus described here. For those who have the catalogue of the sale of the Kaplan Collection at Christie’s, “Historic Cards and Games: The Stuart and Marilyn Kaplan Collection,” the box here for sale is essentially a twin (again, with differences in condition) to item no. 207 in that catalogue.

The Christie’s Kaplan Collection catalogue has this to say about Napoleonic POW bone boxes:

“The resilience and ultimate creativity of prisoners of war is nowhere better exemplified than in the amazing bone boxes made by French sailors captured by the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815); some were captive for more than ten years, providing ample time to develop their skills in the production of prisoner of war artifacts.

“Prisoners were encouraged to make boxes and other objects in order to occupy their time in a productive manner and were allowed to sell those items to British townspeople at Friday prison markets. The money earned was often used to purchase personal articles, as well as small pieces of metal, nails, and wire that could be used by a talented craftsman to carve intricate designs on the bone pieces. It is believed that most, if not all, of the bone used for the boxes came from beef and animal bones, and the dyes for coloring were probably vegetable derived.” (Kaplan Collection Catalogue, p.144)

The Christie’s Kaplan Collection catalogue has this to say about item no. 207:

“1.5 x 5 x 1 in. (38 x 127 x 25 mm). Compact rectangular box made entirely of bone with a flat sliding lid. The sides and ends are decorated with an overall concentric design, and the lid is adorned with a lozenge handle, parallel, cribbage boards, and three circular tortoise shell inlays. The interior holds bone dominoes.” (Kaplan Collection Catalogue, p.152 and pictured at p.153)

The dimensions of the bone box here for sale are almost exactly the same: 126mm from tip of lozenge handle to end of lid; 37mm from side to side to side; 22mm in height. I cannot tell if the circular shell inlays on the lid are tortoise or not. There are no contents with the box; however, I have fashioned 4 bone ivory pegs and they fit decently and are included. It should be emphasized that these pegs are the tips of larger pegs that are contemporary – they are intended to accompany the box, not to be a “part” of it. The box has that compelling and arresting POW look, charged with the reality of its history; the larger pegs from which these tips were fashioned were machine made. Frankly, the purchaser of this box may not want or care about the pegs, but I cannot bring myself to sell a cribbage product of any kind without pegs.

The box is in excellent, but not perfect, condition. Hopefully the pictures capture the look and condition of it from all sides and directions. There are 3 losses that should be specifically disclosed. The edges of the top of the box, where the sliding lid is received, have missing pieces in two places; and, at one end of the box a piece of the box has split off above the top nails. More generally, this is a prisoner of war product – marvelous in its way – but reflective of the limitations under which the artist worked.

Reference: Christie’s Catalogue, “Historic Cards and Games: The Stuart and Marilyn Kaplan Collection,” for auction of June 21, 2006.

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Item ID: T0000706