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, raised on four metal casters. Interior fitted with two large removable organizers at the base, surmounted by a group of three organizers (one deep compartment to the right and two shallow compartments to the left), further surmounted by one large removable organizer, all with cloth ties.

Bearing original labels for Louis Vuitton and Saks & Company, New York, and stamped 776581; lock marked "70 Champs Élysées / Paris / Louis Vuitton / London / 149 New Bond Street," also marked "Made in France" below; lock escutcheon stamped "063609." Black painted monogram "C.O.M." on both sides of exterior, with assorted early twentieth-century storage labels on the left side and a large directional label handwritten and applied to trunk lid. Bearing brass Saks and Company retailers' plaque nailed to the rear left corner of the trunk lid.

(H: 23 3/8, W: 44, D: 23 in. (inclusive of rails and rivets, exclusive of handles and straps))

Qty: (1)

Provenance

Collection of Attorney General Francis Biddle and his wife Katherine Garrison Chapin, Pennsylvania.
By descent in the Biddle family. Estate of Edmund Randolph and Frances Disner Biddle, Philadelphia Main Line, Pennsylvania.

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 lid quilting ― bears Vuitton's name or logo.

The present lot includes exterior storage labels and paper hang tags indicating its use by the poet and playwright Katherine Garrison Chapin (1890-1977) and include her Georgetown address at 1669 31st St. NW. The Georgetown residence was purchased in 1944 by Mrs. Chapin and her husband, Francis Beverly Biddle (1886-1968), the 58th Attorney General of the United States. Attorney General Biddle served in that role during the entire American duration in World War II (from August 1941 to June 1945), and lived in the Georgetown house until his death in 1968; Mrs. Chapin continued to reside at the address until 1973.

Sources:

Bowman, LaBarbara. "Biddle Home Auctioned To Parisian for $800,000." The Washington Post. October 20, 1981.

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

Fair condition, with overall wear consistent with age, extended storage, and heavy use. Case solid and well-built, all hardware and locks intact (no keys provided); exterior leather handles and brackets intact yet showing signs of deterioration; leather strap extending over trunk lid deteriorated with losses to the end of the strap; corresponding leather strap and buckle on front of trunk intact yet similarly worn; strap bracket on front of lid no longer present; exterior canvas and wood trim with assorted scuffs, scratches, older adhesive and paint residues, and other similar signs of wear; interior lining and compartment organizers intact with moderate to heavy brownish staining consistent with age; signs of greenish oxidation on feet and exterior hardware in the lower region of the trunk.