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Lockable Tin Box, Master Paintings Decor, Widow J. Bekkers & Son Dordrecht
€49Bid from €44.10
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ProfessionalProduct description
This remarkable antique iron box is one that reveals its secrets as you slowly turn it around. Its lid and each of its four sides are adorned with reproductions of antique paintings, framed by rich deep blue and gold friezes. A veritable small art gallery, designed on an object originally intended for daily use.
It is attributed to the Dutch company Wed. J. Bekkers & Zoon of Dordrecht, an important manufacturer specializing in tinplate work and the production of decorated boxes. The company's history dates back to 1824, when Jacobus Bekkers established himself in Dordrecht as a tinsmith. The family business subsequently took the name Weduwe J. Bekkers & Zoon, "Widow J. Bekkers & Son," and experienced significant development throughout the 19th century. By the end of the century, it had become a true metalware factory. In 1900, the company was renamed Dordrechtsche Metaalwarenfabriek voorheen Wed. J. Bekkers & Zoon, continuing a production that would make Dordrecht one of the recognized Dutch centers for this type of decorated metal object. This box belongs to a tradition where the container was not merely functional: its decoration had to be attractive enough to be kept and subsequently find its place in the home. Based on its manufacture and decoration, we place it in the first quarter of the 20th century.
Its iconography gives it a very particular character. Five painted scenes unfold across the box, each presented like a small painting within its frame. The lid reproduces "The Adoption," after Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller ( ), one of the great representatives of 19th-century Austrian painting, particularly appreciated for his genre scenes and depictions of family life. The four sides continue this journey through European painting with "The Marriage" and "On the Terrace," after Jan Steen, a 17th-century Dutch painter famous for his scenes of daily life, a "Musical Gathering" after Hendrik van Limborgh, and "The Consultation," after the German painter Wilhelm Sohn. Gathered families, conversations, music, and interior scenes thus unfold all around the box. The deep tones of the reproductions, the gilded frames, and the ornaments on a dark blue background give it today the appearance of a small illustrated chest, almost more an object of curiosity than a simple storage box.
One detail particularly deserves to be highlighted: it has retained its small key. For a box that has endured so many decades, the presence of this independent accessory has become uncommon, as keys were naturally often lost over time through use, moves, and transfers. Here, the key is not only present: it matches the lock, and the mechanism still works. The box can still be genuinely locked and then opened with its key. More than a century after its manufacture, it thus retains not only its appearance as a small chest, but also its original locking function.
Time, however, has left a very prominent mark on the object. The decoration bears numerous traces of use, with rubs, scratches, color loss, and oxidation, particularly visible on the lid and edges. This significant patina is perfectly visible in the photographs, and we have chosen to preserve it as is, without attempting to artificially erase what the years have inscribed on the box. It measures approximately 21 cm in length, 14 cm in depth, and 9 cm in height.
Today, this box brings together several stories: that of the Bekkers factory of Dordrecht, that of European craftsmanship in decorated iron boxes, and that of the antique paintings chosen to adorn it. Finally, its patina tells a more intimate story: that of an object that was genuinely used and that someone carefully preserved enough for its small key to still accompany it today — and still open its lock.
Additional details:
- Brand: 20eSiecle
- Colour: Or
- Period: premier quart du XXe siècle
Specifications
ConditionGoodColorsBlueMaterialIron
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About this seller
ProfessionalSaint symphorien des bois, FranceOn Whoppah since August 2026 • 0 sales