Mid 19th Century American Sewing Box in Best Paper with Stencil Painted Velvet Pin Cushion baby crying starting with what I find

starting with what I find to be the striking beauty and evocativeness of the image

About Heller:  The son of a famous concert pianist

with these carved claws

lending the whole drawing a sense of being cyclical as well as portraying simultaneous vignettes

as owls are already rather miraculous and mystical sorts of creatures

Mid 19th Century American Sewing Box in Best Paper with Stencil Painted Velvet Pin Cushion baby crying starting with what I findI've had a few mid 19th century papered boxes of this sort, but the patterns and bright rainbow of colors on the paper here make this one exceptional. (The bright pink and yellow combo on the interior are very excellent too.) This one was specifically made as a small sewing box, with stencil painted velvet pin cushion on the lid. Hand colored and hand printed paper over cardboard, with ribbons connecting hinged lid to body of box so that it holds open