A Louis Vuitton monogrammed canvas steamer trunk early 20th century

wood with monogram canvas covering, embossed monogram leather trim, wood rails, and engraved brass hardware. Interior fitted with two large removable organizers, the top section further divided into one deep compartment and one shallow compartment surmounted by a removable organizer with one open compartment and two lidded compartments. Bearing original labels for Louis Vuitton and John Wanamaker and stamped 300792; lock marked "Bte [Breveté] SGDG Patent / 1 Rue Scribe / Paris / Louis Vuitton / London / 149 New Bond Street."

(H: 21 3/4 in. W: 36 in. D: 28 1/2 in.)

LOT ESSAY

Louis Vuitton was born in Anchay (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) in eastern France in 1824, and at age 14 headed to Paris to pursue trade as a carpenter. After serving as an apprentice to the Parisian luggage-maker M. Maréchal and producing the personal luggage for Empress Eugénie, he opened his own firm in 1854. Vuitton's principal innovation was the application of waterproof canvas to the top lid of his trunks, eliminating the need for a dome-shaped lid and allowing trunks to be stacked. His son Georges took over the firm, and two of his trademark inventions are visible on the present lot: the five-tumbler lock, introduced in 1890, which resisted picking and allowed each client to have the same combination for all their luggage; and the monogram canvas (1896), conceived to repel counterfeiters and designed in the prevailing Japonisme style of the era.

In an era before mass brand diffusion and the modern fashion industry, Vuitton trunks were one of the Gilded Age's most recognizable luxury goods. Here, nearly all the constituent elements ― the lock, the leather trim and handle brackets, the nailheads, the cloth ribbon handles and lid quilting ― bears Vuitton's name or logo.

The present lot contains internal labels on the rear interior side wall of the lid, one listing Vuitton's European offices (Paris, Lille, and Nice in France, and New Bond St. in London) and the other for John Wanamaker, designating the American department store as sole agents for Vuitton in America, with sales offices in New York and Philadelphia. Perhaps the most prominent merchant of the nineteenth century, John Wanamaker became Vuitton's exclusive US distributor in 1898.

The present lot was used as intended for travel, as evidenced by the remains of original shipping labels on the right hand side. It was also likely purchased at Wanamaker's in Philadelphia, as the left side bears the markings "H.H.S. 2025 Locust St Phila, Penna." This indicates the present lot once belonged to H. Harrison Smith, a Philadelphia attorney who is listed as residing in 2025 Locust Street (just west of Rittenhouse Square) in the 1906 edition of Boyd's Philadelphia Blue Book.

Sources:

Steele, Valerie (ed.), The Berg Companion to Fashion (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015), 717.