Early 20th century, hand carved walnut with horse hair brushes, verso with wall mount ring, appears unmarked.

23.5 x 10 in.

In 1901 Eleanor Park Vance and Charlotte Louise Yale, (graduates of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago), came to Asheville to spend the summer. Vance, who had formally studied woodcarving at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, began teaching young boys who lived in Biltmore Village – just outside the Vanderbilt’s grand estate – how to carve wooden bowls and picture frames. Word of these free classes spread, and Reverend Rodney Swope of Biltmore’s All Souls Church offered her space so she could take on more students. By the end of 1901, Vance and Yale established the Boys’ Club of All Souls Church, which soon brought the attention of Edith Vanderbilt.

Like Vance and Yale, the Vanderbilts were socially progressive individuals interested in bettering the lives of the economically deprived youth of the Appalachian region. They lent their support and eventually subsidized the development of a craft education program that would become Biltmore Estate Industries in 1905. The Vanderbilts provided more workshop space in Biltmore Village, and young men, and eventually women, were taught to embrace craft as a livelihood.

Original patina to walnut; overall good condition.