Images(2)

Needle case

Date18th and 19th C.

OriginEngland and Europe, France

MediumMother of pearl, brass

DimensionsOL 4 1/2 in.

Credit LineAnonymous gift.

Object number1971-3454,5

DescriptionThis is a mother of pearl needle case in the shape of a key. The case consists of a lid and a case with brass fitting. The top of the key is an oval formed by a serpent biting its tail; a carved openwork floral sprig decorates the inside of the oval. The key's bit has a small openwork carved flower.Label TextStitched in Time:
What sort of tools might a woman need in her needlework pursuits? Retail advertisements throughout the 18th and 19th centuries often group the fiber arts accoutrement, including sewing and knitting needles, scissors (both with their respective cases), buttons, awls or punches, thimbles, thread, pins, knitting sheaths, and more. Like needlework, these practical tools were often decorative.

In 1819, new mother Lucy Clark Allen bemoaned the disorganization of her own needlework tools as she started a new project. She wrote, "where is my work all this time? When I go to sit down to it, my thimble is under one chair, my scissors under another, my needle is lost or stuck into a far distant part...and by the time I have collected all my materials, down it must go again."ProvenancePrior to 1948, Clara Frances Wolff [Mrs. DeWitt Clinton Cohen] (New York, NY); 1948, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Everett Tomlinson (Montclair, NJ); 1971, given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)