19th Century Antique Tramp Art Table Top Box

A 19th Century antique tramp art box with chip carved decoration.

Tramp art, popular between the 1870’s and 1940’s, is the name given to objects made with small pieces of wood taken from everyday sources like wooden cigar boxes and shipping crates. Tramp art was made using a technique called chip carving. Scrap wood was chipped into smaller pieces and used to create and decorate objects like picture frames and storage boxes. The decorated surfaces tended to have geometric shapes because of the way the wood was cut, notched with a V shape on its end and then, glued together.

Tramp art didn’t require expensive equipment. All the artist needed was a pocket knife and scrap wood. The name ‘tramp art’ is a misnomer and comes from a mistaken assumption that the people who made these objects were tramps. Many people who made these pieces lived in homes and communities.

This example has an inlaid/applied print of a Jacobean House to the lozenge of the lid and fabric to each lozenge on all four sides of the main carcass.

The lid lifts to reveal an interior void of any fittings and lined with canvas.

Condition – surface wear is commensurate with age. Please refer to the images.

Size: Width 25 cm x Depth 18 cm x Height 16.5 cm (9 3/4″ x  7″ x 6 1/2″ )