Two Philadelphia shadow-box grottoes

Magazine Antiques, March, 2002 by Laura Keim Stutman

Several small details, as well as their similar construction, link the two shadow-box grottoes. Both make use of the same raptorlike birds, which were probably prefabricated; and one of the birds in the historical society's box stands on a post nearly identical to the posts on which the birds in the Stenton box perch. Both use strawflowers for bird's nests, and both also include marble or porcelain animal figurines, which could represent actual animals or garden statuary.

The most important connection between the two boxes, however, is that they were both made by well-to-do Quaker women. Mary Sandwith, known as Polly, was a daughter of William Sandwith (d. 1756), a merchant and shipowner, who "followed the seas for many years. (17) Her sister Elizabeth (1734-1807) was married to Henry Drinker (1734-1809), a merchant in Philadelphia. Polly Sandwith was ten years younger than Anne Reckless Emlen, but both were adults by the second half of the eighteenth century Both were single for most of their lives but came from families with wealth and social connections, and both engaged in businesses that allowed them to capitalize on their wealth. Polly Sandwith, for example, owned substantial property in and around Philadelphia, as well as stock in canal and turnpike companies, and she invested in her nephew Henry Sandwith Drinker's voyage to Calcutta in 1807. (18) Coincidentally both Polly and Anne Emlen also had business dealings with Michael Gunkle (1751--1816), a merchant and contra ctor in Philadelphia and East Whiteland Township, in Chester County. (19)

Shellwork was taught in schools in London and on the island of Saint Kitts in the West Indies (20) and it is possible that it was taught in Philadelphia's schools for the daughters of the socially elite, just as needlework was. The imagery of the Stenton box has some obvious parallels with Delaware River valley schoolgirl needlework, particularly with the pictorial samplers with houses and gardens worked by young Philadelphia Quaker women in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. (21) Urns filled with flowers are found in needlework executed throughout the eighteenth century, and some mid-eighteenth-century Philadelphia band samplers include raptorlike birds, cone-shaped trees, and deer and lions. (22) However the fact that these two shadow-box grottoes were made by mature women suggests that shellwork was an amusing pastime for women of education and wealth. They may well have worked on them over a period or years or even decades, as they acquired shells and modified their designs. In keeping with the s eventeenth-century definition of curious, these meticulously crafted works of art reward those who spend time exploring them, by offering a unique view of eighteenth-century Delaware River valley Quaker culture.

I am most grateful for their input and assistance to Joe and Jenifer Kindig, Philip Zimmerman, Chris Storb, Ellen Endsloxv, Rob Lukens and Stephen Hague.

LAURA KEIM STUTMAN is the curator at Stenlon, in Phiadelphia.