A rare Jamaican specimen wood box, by Ralph Turnbull, circa 1840, unlabelled, the interior tray with nine compartments each with a different specimen solid wood lid and each with pen inscribed paper identification label, including Juniper Ceader, Jamaica Mahogany, Ebony, Yacca, Mahoe, Grey Sanders.
Provenance: Private Collection, Scotland.
Identical (externally) boxes sold Christie’s London 26th October 2010, and John Howkins Antiques, both with a Ralph Turnbull printed paper label.
Ralph Turnbull (1788-1865) was born in Scotland and emigrated to Jamaica with his brothers in around 1815; the Kingston Chronicle of 1819 includes an advert of their work. Kingston was a thriving city built on the success of the sugar trade, and English merchants and officials were a receptive market for locally made furniture, albeit influenced by current English prototypes. Ralph Turnbull became the most recognised and important of 19th century Jamaican furniture makers; using indigenous woods of Jamaica, he is credited with the development of the genre of furniture that is synonymous with colonial Jamaica.
