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Plain work basket with hinged lid and oval key escutcheon, English, unknown maker, early nineteenth century
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Work box SM XF7, after conservation 2021. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photograph: Lewis Bush.
Plain work basket with hinged lid and oval key escutcheon, English, unknown maker, early nineteenth century
Mahogany with fabric pouch and lining; brass key escutcheon
Height: 68.5cm
Width: 50.5cm
Depth: 39.5cm
Width: 50.5cm
Depth: 39.5cm
Museum number: XF7
On display: Morning Room (pre-booked tours only)
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit
Curatorial note
The lock is stamped GR Patent lock; small inset ivory disc lettered ‘T’; modern pouch in pleated yellow material bound in matching braid, the interior lined in cotton print fabric; stretchers form a shelf under the pouch (the stretchers have been repaired since 1955).1
This seems to be the item described in the Furniture and Fittings inventory as ‘1 small square lady’s work table with flap top and well (very old)’. It has always been said to have belonged to Mrs Soane, who died in 1815, but there is no archival evidence to support this. The pouch has been replaced at least twice, once by Mrs Daniell in the nineteenth century and by Dorothy Stroud in the 1950s.
1 Inspectress’s Report on Furniture, May 1955, p.2. In her report Miss Stroud notes that this item ‘returned from evacuation in a poor way’ with ‘a broken stretcher and the original work bag missing’.
This seems to be the item described in the Furniture and Fittings inventory as ‘1 small square lady’s work table with flap top and well (very old)’. It has always been said to have belonged to Mrs Soane, who died in 1815, but there is no archival evidence to support this. The pouch has been replaced at least twice, once by Mrs Daniell in the nineteenth century and by Dorothy Stroud in the 1950s.
1 Inspectress’s Report on Furniture, May 1955, p.2. In her report Miss Stroud notes that this item ‘returned from evacuation in a poor way’ with ‘a broken stretcher and the original work bag missing’.
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk