Spruce gum box, ER. PQ

Unusually large spruce gum box, found by a dealer in Vermont. The whitewood is painted with red highlights on both covers and varnished. The front cover has four recessed corners infilled with red paint, and a large central roundel motif with a four-pointed star and four large red-painted dots, all reserved in a recessed background. The back cover shows similar recessed corners, which may have been painted, now faded. The large central motif consists of a diamond-shaped field filled with a pattern of small chip-carved triangles and painted red. The spine is carved with the letters ER. PQ. in relief. There are functioning slide openings at the top and bottom of the books. The edges of the book are painted gold. -- description by Mindell Dubansky in consultation with Marijn Manuels