Object Description
A ‘Black Forest’ walnut tobacco box in the form of a long-haired dog resting its forepaws on a log carved with a well at each end, the head, naturalistically carved with curly hair and inlaid glass eyes, is hinged and opens to reveal a hollowed out compartment. Swiss, circa 1890.
Footnote: For many years carved wooden pieces such as this were wrongly thought to have come from the Black Forest in Germany. However, we now know that a wide variety of carvings were actually produced in the Swiss Alps as extensively researched by Arenski, Daniels and Daniels, in their publication ‘Swiss Carvings, The Art of the ‘Black Forest’ 1820-1940’ Woodbridge 2005. See Chapter 4 ‘Curiosities’ for similar tobacco boxes modelled as foxes, rabbits and bears.