I purchased this one from a dealer in Maine, who had a number of works that had come from the estate of Elizabeth Heredia Snyder Rees (1919-2011)--not an artist I was familiar with, and much of her work not really my cup of tea, but I found and find this pretty wonderful, and clever, too: a pair of lovers rendered in modeling clay atop an old Cuban Romeo Y Julieta cigar box, with the box doing quadruple duty--as a base, and a stand, and as inspiration--as well as a storage space to stash love notes and momentos inside! And with the reference to Romeo and Juliet suggesting something of a memorial too, lovers entwined forever, which makes me think of Patricia Cronin's marble sculpture, Memorial To A Marriage (2002) portraying the artist and her artist wife Deborah Kass recumbent in an entwined embrace on a bed, permanently installed Woodlawn Cemetery.

Born in Philadelphia, Elizabeth (Betty) Heredia Snyder Rees attended Tyler School of Art, Temple University, studying under its founder, Boris Blai, and printmaker, Arthur Flourie, then spent much of her life in California. Her work included sculpture in bronze, wood, marble, cement and papier mache, as well as watercolors, prints, and fiber works. She exhibited frequently in California, including at Stanford University Museum of Art, and in Europe; was active with San Francisco Women Artists, the Bay Area Printmakers Society, the Pacific Grove Art Center, where she taught, and the Monterey Museum of Art.

Box 8" x 5 3/4" x 1 3/8". The relief is executed in oil based clay, so is not hardened. Some age spotting to the clay as evident and a bit of lint accumulated in the recesses.