Treen (literally "of a tree") is a generic name for small handmade functional household objects made of wood . Treen is distinct from furniture , such as chairs , and cabinetry , as well as clocks and cupboards . Before the late 17th century, when silver , pewter , and ceramics were introduced for tableware, most small household items, boxes and tableware were carved from wood. Today, treen is highly collectable for its patina and tactile appeal.
26-422: Anything from wooden plates and bowls, snuff boxes and needle cases, spoons and stay busks to shoehorns and chopping boards can be classed as treen. Domestic and agricultural wooden tools are also usually classed with treen. Before the advent of cheap metal wares in industrialized societies, and later plastic , wood played a much greater part as the raw material for common objects. Turning and carving were
52-514: A portrait , a classical vignette , portrait miniature , hardstone inlays , or micromosaic panel. Some of the most expensive just used subtly different colours of gold. Perhaps the most widely used semi-precious metal was silver and snuffs of all shapes and sizes were made in that metal during snuff's great popularity. Even after snuff-taking ceased to be a general habit, the practice lingered among diplomats , doctors, lawyers and other professionals as well as members of professions where smoking
78-407: A bride-to-be by her new in-laws. These were decorated with carved bone plaques, within a setting of certosina inlays in wood, and were produced in the decades around 1400. Later in the 15th century caskets decorated in pastiglia , a type of moulded plaster or gesso , became common for similar purposes. The so-called Casket letters were allegedly written by Mary, Queen of Scots and found in
104-405: A casket belong to her husband Lord Bothwell . They suggested her complicity in the murder of her previous husband Lord Darnley , but may well have been invented by her enemies. A knottekistje is a Dutch type of wedding casket, typically in silver, given by the bridegroom to the bride, containing coins. They replaced cloth wrappers in the 17th century. Some examples have remained unburied from
130-468: A day or two's supply. Since prolonged exposure to air causes snuff to dry out and compromises its quality, snuff boxes have tightly sealed lids to ensure that air does not penetrate the box, although wholly air-tight boxes are a rarity. Table boxes can still be found in the mess of certain old regiments – often in the traditional 'ram's head' style – and a communal snuff box is kept in the House of Commons in
156-538: A few inches in more than one dimension, with only smaller ones called boxes. Traditionally gift boxes used for promotional and seasonal gifts are made from sturdy paperboard or corrugated fiberboard . These boxes normally consist of a base and detachable lid and are made by using a die cutting process to cut the board. The box is then covered with decorative paper . Gift boxes can be dressed with other gift packaging material, such as decorative ribbons and gift tissue paper . The most common type of decorative box
182-475: A section of the ivory tusk of an elephant. The term "casket" overlaps with strongbox (or strong box), a heavily-made box for storing or transporting coin and other valuables. These include more metal, in bands or as the main material, and are functional rather than decorative. Though caskets are often regarded as boxes for jewelry, at least until the Renaissance this was probably not a common use, as at least
208-603: Is a decorative box or container that is usually smaller than a chest and is typically decorated. In recent centuries they are often used as boxes for jewelry, but in earlier periods they were also used for keeping important documents and many other purposes. Many ancient caskets are reliquaries , for both Buddhist and Christian relics. A tall round casket is often called a pyxis , after a shape in Ancient Greek pottery ; these were popular in Islamic art , often made from
234-663: Is a box made to hold a Bible . These boxes started being manufactured in the 17th century. An étui [ fr ] (from the French, for keeper or holder) is a woman's ornamental case, usually carried in a pocket or purse. It holds small tools for daily use such as folding scissors, bodkins , sewing needles (a needlecase ), hairpins, tweezers, makeup pencils, etc. Some étuis were also used to carry doctors' lancets . These boxes were made of various materials such as wood, leather, ivory, silver , gold , tortoise shell , mother of pearl , and shagreen . Fabergé created
260-645: Is a receptacle for money , deeds and securities . Its place has been taken in modern life by the safe . Some have extremely elaborate locks, such as Sir Thomas Bodley 's strong box in the Bodleian library , which has a locking mechanism in the under-side of the lid. In the Middle Ages, people usually brought their own cutlery with them when eating away from home, and the more expensive types came with their own custom-made leather cases, stamped and embossed in various designs. Later, as cutlery became provided by
286-588: Is made from black ash . Another five percent is made from maple , with other woods such as cherry wood , white cedar , oak , and birch making up the remainder. Woodworker Michael Combs has speculated that black ash burl was favored because it is easy to work on a lathe. Snuff box A decorative box is a form of packaging that is generally more than just functional, but also intended to be decorative and artistic. Many such boxes are used for promotional packaging , both commercially and privately. Historical objects are usually called caskets if larger than
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#1732798770564312-538: Is the feminine work box. It is usually fitted with a tray divided into many small compartments for needles , reels of silk and cotton , and other necessaries for stitchery . The date of its origin is unclear, but 17th-century examples exist, covered with silk and adorned with beads and embroidery . No lady would have been without her work box in the 18th century. In the second half of that century, elaborate pains were taken to make these boxes dainty and elegant. Work boxes are ordinarily portable, but at times they form
338-656: The Necessaire Egg as an étui . Wooden wine boxes, also known as wooden wine crates, are used to ship and store expensive wines in transit and cellarage. Most wineries that use wooden boxes burn their logo and designs onto the front panel. Originally intended as purely practical items, these panels or the whole box are often used by bars or wine collectors as decorative pieces for their bars or wine cellars. A typical wooden wine box holds either six or twelve 750 ml (26 imp fl oz; 25 US fl oz) bottles. Casket (decorative box) A casket
364-650: The old-growth forests where they are commonly found had largely been logged out of existence. Burl treen was found in Europe occasionally, particularly in objects intended for celebration or the upper class, but was not in wide-scale use. In contrast, burls were widely available in the virgin forests of North America. Native Americans worked these burls into domestic objects like bowls and ladles with tools such as stone blades, hot coals, and beaver teeth. Native Americans traded these wooden items with European colonists, who later learned to harvest burl and carve them into treen in
390-499: The UK parliament. People of all social classes used these boxes when snuff was at its peak of popularity and the wealthy carried a variety of fancy snuff-boxes created by craftsmen in metal-work, jewellers and enamellers . Some of these were elaborately made and decorated, rich in detail and made from precious or expensive materials such as gold, silver and ivory and were often adorned with artwork, gems and precious stones. Boxes made for
416-502: The coronation of George IV of the United Kingdom, Messrs. Rundell and Bridge , the court jewellers, were paid £8,205 for snuff-boxes for gifts to foreign representatives. Today snuff boxes are collected at many levels – the high-end of the market being reserved for gold boxes that have been jewelled or have original art work on them, or boxes with provenance linking them to world figures, such as Napoleon or Lord Nelson. Some of
442-425: The handles of knives and the bowls of spoons. Mahogany and satinwoods were most common, occasionally inlaid with marquetry , or edged with boxwood which was resistant to chipping. These receptacles, often made in pairs, still exist in large numbers; they are often converted into stationery cabinets. Another version is an open tray or rack, usually with a handle, also for the storage of table cutlery. A Bible box
468-400: The host, decorative cases, especially for the knives, were often left on display in the dining-room. Some of the most elegant and often ornate were in the styles of Robert Adam , George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton . Occasionally flat-topped containers, they were most frequently either rod-shaped, or tall and narrow with a sloping top necessitated by a series of raised veins for exhibiting
494-674: The key manufacturing techniques. The selection of wood species was important, and close-grained hardwoods such as box , beech and sycamore were particularly favoured, with occasional use of exotics, such as lignum vitae for mallet heads. Wooden objects have survived relatively less well than those of metal or stone, and their study by archaeologists and historians has been somewhat neglected until recently. Their functional and undecorated forms have, however, been highly regarded by designers and collectors. In North America, Native Americans carved tree burls into durable wooden objects with uniquely marbled grain. Burls were rare in Europe because
520-442: The more functional types of decorative boxes is the snuff box. These were used for containing snuff , which is a mixture of grounded tobacco and scented oils , these items were popularly used during the 18th century when snuff-taking was fashionable. Snuff boxes are made in two sizes – pocket boxes and communal boxes made for table use. Pocket boxes are usually made to hold a small amount of snuff for immediate consumption—typically
546-455: The most expensive are French and German 18th century examples, and the record auction price for a German box is £789,250 (about US$ 1.3 million), bid in 2003 at Christie's in London. Modern snuff boxes are made from a variety of woods, pewter and even plastic and are manufactured in surprising numbers due, largely, to snuff's resurgence amongst tobacco connoisseurs and ex-smokers. A strong box
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#1732798770564572-620: The most serious jewelry was kept in a strongbox. Surviving caskets from early periods are often made using precious materials, especially ivory , around a wooden framework. In East Asia lacquer over wood is common. The house-shaped chasse is a very common shape for reliquaries in the Early and High Middle Ages, often in Limoges enamel , but some were also secular. The Embriachi workshop in north Italy, and their imitators, specialized in "marriage caskets", presumed to have been presented to
598-444: The poorer snuff taker were more ordinary; popular and cheap boxes were made in papier-mâché and even potato -pulp, which made durable boxes that kept the snuff in good condition. Alloys that resembled gold or silver were developed in the 18th and 19th centuries such as the ersatz gold Pinchbeck and the silver look-alike, Sheffield Plate . Other popular materials used in making these boxes include: The lids were often adorned with
624-441: The style of their home countries. Burl treen is considered an indigenous North American craft, and examples are found in museums and private collections of Americana . The snarled and interlaced grain of a burl makes the resulting objects stronger and less likely to split. They were strong enough to be passed down over generations. A variety of trees produce burls, but almost all North American burl treen (upwards of ninety percent)
650-542: The top of a stationary table. A jewelry box, also known as a casket , is a receptacle for trinkets, not only jewels . It may take a very modest form, covered in leather and lined with satin , or it may reach the monumental proportions of the jewel cabinets which were made for Marie Antoinette , one of which is at Windsor Castle , and another at the Palace of Versailles ; the work of Schwerdfeger as cabinetmaker, Degault as miniature-painter, and Thomire as chaser . One of
676-400: Was not possible, such as miners and print workers and snuff still has a considerable following, particularly amongst ex-smokers. Monarchs retained the habit of bestowing snuff-boxes upon ambassadors and other intermediaries as a form of honor. As Charles Maurice de Talleyrand explained, the diplomatic corps found a ceremonious pinch to be a useful aid to reflection in a business interview. At
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