A lightweight, lidded oval box built from thin bent wood, traditionally maple or birch, wrapped around a solid wood base and lid and secured with distinctive tapering finger, or swallowtail, laps, refined and popularized by the Shaker religious communities beginning around 1798 to 1799 at New Lebanon, New York. Though the Shakers did not invent the oval box form, which has older roots in America and Europe, they standardized it into a numbered system of graduated sizes and made it central to their identity as both a working household container and, from the nineteenth century onward, an item sold to the outside world.
Facts
OriginRefined and sold by Shaker communities from around 1798 to 1799 at New Lebanon, New York; the box form itself has older, non-Shaker roots in America and Europe. 1 Distinguishing Technique or ResultThin steamed or soaked wood is bent around a form and secured at the seam with tapering finger laps (swallowtails), which allow the wood to expand and contract with humidity without splitting. 1 Connections
Sources
1. History of Shaker Boxes (Le Hay's)
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