Images(5)

Trunk, Hair

Date1786-1796

Artist/Maker Drivers & Eyre

OriginEngland, London

MediumDeal, elm (possibly), goat or deer skin, leather, iron, and paper

DimensionsOH: 11 1/4"; OW: 23 7/8"; OD: 11"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1967-532

DescriptionNearly cylindrical trunk with flat bottom and hinged lid; entire trunk except base covered with deerskin; iron, rectangular lockplate with hinged clasp at front; iron ring handles, one on each side; trunk bound with six iron plates at each end, two on top, two on bottom, one on the front, and one on the back; edges of ends outlined with double rows of leather strips with brass nails; brass nails around lid attach apron to front and sides of case (some missing); ttwo rectangular pieces of hide nailed through the ends only to the front of the trunk next to the iron plates; two narrow boards nailed to underside of trunk along front and rear edges; interior lined with E. Johnson's BRITISH GAZETTE AND SUNDAY MONITOR for Sunday, November 26 and Sunday, December 3, 1786, overprinted with vine motif; textile tape nailed inside trunk and lid at both ends.Label TextDating trunks can be difficult due to the continuation of similar forms and designs over many decades of the 18th century. These objects were typically lined with paper, sometimes uncut book pages or newspapers with a decorative design printed over the text. This trunk retains its original newpaper lining, pages from E. Johnson's BRITISH GAZETTE AND SUNDAY MONITOR, and it also includes the issue dates of the pages: Sunday, November 26 and Sunday, December 3, 1786. As an original element of the trunk, this paper indicates the trunk was made no earlier than that late 1786 date. The label of Drivers & Eyre inside the lid provides an end date for when the trunk could have been produced. The firm was disolved (or Driver died) prior to 1797 when Issac Eyre was listed alone at the Cockspur Street & at No. 70 Charing Cross location.Mark(s)Label attached to inside of lid reads: "DRIVERS & EYRE, Trunk, Plate-Case and Messengers-Box-Makers / To their Royal Highnesses / The DUKES of GLOUCESTER and CUMBERLAND, / at the Kings Arms / In Cockspur Street & at No. 70 Charing Cross, / London. / Every Article relative to the above business / Wholesale & Retail - at reasonable rates./ Lockington Sculpt/ Saville Passage"