Cause Célébre and Marquetry

In the art world it has been established more than once that it is not what you have created, but who created it. And if that artist is of a character that has made them infamous, that is all the better. Is it possible that marquetry has a cause célébre?

Well, the answer is yes. Let me introduce you to Dr. Samuel Mudd, one of the conspirators, along with John Wilkes Booth, in the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Tortugas in 1867. Here he passed his time away making little boxes, decorating them with different varieties of wood found on the beach of Dry Tortugas.

The box shown below sold at auction in 2005 for $12,075. It measures 12" x 7.75" x 4.5" high. The name Bertha is inlaid into the top with black stained wood.
Dr. Mudd was pardoned in 1869 by President Andrew Johnson in part because of the doctor's humanitarian efforts in treating fellow prisioners during an epidemic of yellow fever at Fort Jefferson.