Swedish Sockerskrin Sugar Box Masur Birch Kurbits Folk Art 1973 Signed

Details

Description

A 19th-century Swedish sockerskrin — a sugar box — in figured masur birch, retaining its complete original interior mechanism. Open … Read more A 19th-century Swedish sockerskrin — a sugar box — in figured masur birch, retaining its complete original interior mechanism. Open the lid and the function becomes immediately clear: a heavy hand-forged iron blade mounted on a pivot, set above a perforated pine sifter floor. Sugar loaves were once sold in hard cones; this box was the tool used to nip and sift them. As the blade cut, fine sugar powder fell through the holes into the side drawer below, while larger lumps remained on top — a dual-function design of quiet brilliance that predates granulated sugar entirely.
Masur birch — the highly figured, undulating-grain wood prized above all others in Nordic furniture making — covers the exterior. The surface has developed the deep honey patina that only two centuries of handling can produce.
The lid carries a hand-painted kurbits composition in the Dalarna folk tradition, signed on the interior: "Målat 1973 SÅ-m" — painted in 1973 by an identified artist. The symmetrical floral motifs in ochre, terracotta and forest green are executed with the confidence of a trained folk painter, not a hobbyist. This is a 19th-century functional object that a 20th-century folk artist chose to honor.
Every component is original and present: blade, sifter, drawer, lock plate, hinges. See less