Silver Frog Rosewood Box

A rosewood box set with a silver frog in a concave recess of its detachable lid pairs the warm wood against a single naturalistic silver figure. The frog, a creature with deep roots in Mexican imagery, sits cupped in the hollowed lid as the box's sole ornament.

The contrast of silver against the density and color of rosewood is the device Morrill connects to Spratling's affinity for Puiforcat (Morrill, p. 224), here reduced to one sculptural accent on a plain form. The recessed setting protects the figure and frames it at the same time. The box is recorded in Goddard's Spratling Silver field guide.

Rosewood boxes with applied silver creatures survive in smaller numbers than his jewelry, and the recessed frog is a distinctive Spratling treatment.