Leather Key Basket
Tooled and Stitched Decoration
9 ¾” long, 5 ¼” wide, 6” tall
Virginia ~ Circa 1840- 1850
Descended in the Donnan & Mann Families of Nottoway County, Virginia
Key baskets seem to have been a unique product of Virginia and North Carolina with the majority of surviving examples having origins in or around Richmond. While a significant number of examples, many of fine quality, have appeared since R. Lewis Wright’s article in the May 1982 Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts, little additional information has surfaced regarding the origins of the form or its use. Some key baskets were made and marked by established harness and saddle makers such as the Cottrell family of Richmond but the majority seem to have been the product of individual leather workers and were probably unique creations produced for specific clients and occasions. The key basket served both a practical and symbolic role in the southern household. At one level the basket was a simple and convenient conveyance for the multiple keys needed for the locks securing sugar chests, cellarets smoke houses where valuables were stored. At another, the key basket represented the authority and responsibility of the lady of the house who presided over the range of service staff, slaves and operations necessary for the smooth functioning of a couple’s domestic arrangements.
This key basket descended in the family of Alexander Donnan who practiced law and resided in Petersburg where he served on the City Council and in the Virginia House of Delegates. In 1850 he married Anna E. Willson of nearby Amelia County with whom he had nine children. Their daughter Etta Edloe Donnan married Judge William Hodges Mann of Nottoway County who served in the Confederate Army and as Governor of Virginia 1910-1914. Etta inherited the key basket from her parents and it was passed from her down through the Mann family, a member of which sold it to a Richmond dealer.
This key basket boasts an unusual flared or boat-like shape that gives it particular appeal. It is lined with fabric that is stitched along the finished upper rim, also quite unusual. The overall condition is excellent with an old repair to the original handle and wear consistent with age and use.
