Art Deco Folk Art?

My pick this week comes from day two of the Roland and Marilyn Kemble collection. This was a hard choice for me to make, as I had quite a few things that I felt were very deserving of the spotlight. I narrowed it down to the baseball quilt, the Woodlands Indian burl bowl, and the Lancaster County splay leg tavern table. I ended up choosing none of these and went with a non-American piece I felt was an exceptional example of an item we see a lot of. Lot #253 is a Continental painted bride’s box. I probably see a hundred of these boxes throughout the course of a year, but this one, for me, really stuck out with its very graphic and vibrantly painted surface. The outer edge with bold floral bands and the center of the lid with an image of a bride and groom. The background almost conjures up a feeling for Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting. The condition, surface, and use of earth tone pigments just pulled it all together. A great piece of folk art that mixes with any area of collecting as well as any time frame. I can visualize this standing a top of great Pennsylvania dower chest just as easily as on a stark white shelf with art deco lines.