Portable Desks

Date1800s

Terms

Portable Desks
Paper
Wood

Dimensions25.38 × 20.31 × 10.15 cm (10 × 8 × 4 in.)

MarkingsIn pencil on inside of box: "Harriet N. Pratt's." also "Miss Eaton, Concord, Mass." Note with the box: "This little wooden writing box was given to the Society by Miss Isabelle Wheeler of 15 Sudbury Road, Concord, Mass., It is an old family piece and has the maiden names of both her mother Eaton and her grandmother Pratt written in pencil on the inside." Latin motto: "PRO TANTO / QUID / RETRIBUAM"

Credit LineGift of Miss Isabelle Wheeler

Object numberF2143

DescriptionVictorian writing box or portable desk. Decorated inside and out with paper picture cutouts (decoupage) of animals (including roosters, eagles), ships, etc. Brown and yellow. When lid is opened, it pulls upward an undecorated wooden plank that then rests at an angle for use as a desk. Plank can be lifted from lower end on a hinge to reveal more decorations of cut-out paper on the underside. On plank is a piece of green and gold fabric representing a crest of some kind (Latin motto reads: "PRO TANTO / QUID / RETRIBUAM").