Curly’s Sacred Heart
February 1st, 2009
The Village Carpenter has a recent post describing a 19thC grease box. The object is a small carved box with a swivel lid. The inside is carved out to hold a supply of grease. This reminded me of a wonderful piece by Matthew Harding.
Curly's Sacred Heart (mum's pill box) by Matthew Harding
This is carved in the form of a human heart from a wood called purpleheart. It functions as a container for his mother’s heart pills. It also uses a swivel lid as shown below.
Made in purpleheart. The top swivels to open the container.
The piece was first exhibited in 1996 in a group exhibition called The box as container curated by George Ingham.
I created an online version of the exhibition way back then. It is a part of my old web site that I haven’t migrated but you can still view it here. Some of the external links may now be broken.
There are some very good pieces hidden in there. I will attempt to highlight a few in future posts. Three reviews of the exhibition are included. All are interesting but I highly recommend reading Michael Gill’s review. Woodworkers especially will find it entertaining.
Entry Filed under: Wood
6 Comments Add your own
1. the Village Carpenter | February 1st, 2009 at 9:39 pm
What a clever pill box! The purpleheart heart even has little chambers inside. How is the lid attached? Does it pivot on a spindle so the lid can be removed?
The Box as Container exhibit is very impressive. I’m continually amazed at what beautiful/thoughtful/inventive things are produced by human beings.
2. Mark | February 2nd, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Yes - two little ventricles inside. Sweet isn’t it? I don’t recall how the pivot is made. I’ve emailed matty to ask (if he can remember!).
I don’t know the exact size but I know it fitted easily in your hand.
3. Lee | February 4th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
What a fascinating piece of work!
4. Mark | February 8th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Matty rang me yesterday from Melbourne to announce the birth of his second daughter. What a day to be born! Lee is only too aware of this but for others Melbourne had its hottest day on record yesterday - 47°C! That’s 116° in the old money.
Naturally I forgot to ask him about how the lid is attached in his pillbox.
5. Jennifer | July 21st, 2010 at 11:24 am
I absolutely love the heart pill container, who made it? Does this person make and sell these pill containers?
6. Mark | July 21st, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Hi Jennifer. Matthew Harding is a very active sculptor currently working in Melbourne. He generally makes one-offs but you might like to email him and ask. If you follow the link in the text to his website, his email address is listed in the ‘about’ page.
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