Box with Cover

1920s–30s

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774

The work of Marie Zimmermann was admired and celebrated during her lifetime, and it continues to attract attention today. Although trained in painting and sculpting, she was primarily a metalworker, who liked to say that she made "everything from tiaras to tombstones." An interesting subset of Zimmermann’s work in metal is a group of small boxes decorated in a variety of ways. The present box, made of silver, is unusual in being of a flat and of nearly square format. Its cover is ornamented with a fluid yet symmetrical pattern of silver wire scrolls, set with turquoise cabochons and freshwater pearls of varying size. Although quite distinct from the work of Zimmermann’s contemporary, the Arts & Crafts metalworker Elizabeth Copeland (1866–1957), this small silver box bears comparison with Copeland’s aesthetic, albeit lacking the enamel so characteristic of Copeland’s work.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Title: Box with Cover
Maker: Marie Zimmermann (American, Brooklyn, New York 1879–1972 Punta Gorda, Florida)
Date: 1920s–30s
Culture: American
Medium: Silver, turquoise, and freshwater pearls
Dimensions: 2 1/8 × 3 3/8 × 3 in. (5.4 × 8.6 × 7.6 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2020
Object Number: 2021.14.17
Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

By Marie Zimmermann

In the same gallery

From the same time and place

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Candelabrum, Marie Zimmermann American, Gold plated brass — Candelabrum
Marie Zimmermann
ca. 1915

Covered dish, Marie Zimmermann American, Gilded copper, silver, and ivory, American — Covered dish
Marie Zimmermann
ca. 1930

Covered dish, Marie Zimmermann American, Gilt silver, ivory, jade, and cinnabar, American — Covered dish
Marie Zimmermann
ca. 1930

Box and cover, Marie Zimmermann American, Silver, enamel, stone cameo, malachite, lapis lazuli, and citrines, American — Box and cover
Marie Zimmermann
1920s—30s

Bowl, Marie Zimmermann American, Copper, American — Bowl
Marie Zimmermann
1920s

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