Beautiful Antique Carved Heart Shaped Box, Ex. "Smitty" Axtell Collection american folk art carving Signed in cursive at lower

Signed in cursive at lower right

but I am not 100% if horsehair or other) darkening beautifully toward the ends

Irregularity to the glaze around the top of the lip

For Muskrats"

and here with the clearly joyful effort put into detailing the ruffled sleeves

Beautiful Antique Carved Heart Shaped Box, Ex. "Smitty" Axtell Collection american folk art carving Signed in cursive at lowerI know this beautiful little carved box came from the collection of Richard Smitty Axtell (Skinner recently held an auction of many pieces from his collection in "Smitty's Eye: The Axtell Collection") of Deposit, New York, whose collection focused on American antiques especially burl and other woodenware. This looks like burl to me, and beautifully carved, with bat wing like points to the heart on the exterior, but then a rounded heart carved out