Eagle Head Rosewood Box

A square rosewood box with an applied silver eagle head and a detachable lid pairs the warmth of the wood against a single sculptural silver accent. The eagle, a recurring presence in Mexican iconography, gives the plain box its focal ornament and reads as a small relief sculpture on the lid.

Setting silver against the density and color of rosewood is the material contrast Morrill ties to Spratling's affinity for Puiforcat, whose work was finished with rosewood and similar materials (Morrill, p. 224). The detachable lid and applied figure mark this as workshop holloware rather than a turned wooden object. It is recorded in Goddard's Spratling Silver field guide.

Rosewood boxes with applied silver figures survive in smaller numbers than his jewelry, and the eagle-head motif is a recognizable Spratling accent.