Over the past month I have been engaged in a furniture photography project at Stenton, the house museum in Philadelphia completed in 1730 for the Logan family. With the assistance of Stenton’s curators we made 78 overall images of 42 objects and several hundred detail images of those objects. The furniture project is part of a comprehensive study and photography of all media in the collection that will be included in a newly designed website that will be available to the public in the near future. It was an exciting project and I was able to examine objects to a greater degree than I had in the past. The following is a little taste of the project, a sample, in reduced image size, of what will be available on the website, and some of the details that, if not accessible on the website, will be available to researchers through the curatorial department.
We worked onsite in several of the larger rooms in the house. Objects that could be easily moved were photographed on a seamless backdrop.
This partial set of six side chairs and one armchair have been at Stenton since 1929. They were bequeathed to Stenton by Algernon Sydney Logan (1849-1925). They originally belonged to John Dickinson (1732-1808) who married Mary Norris, a granddaughter of both James Logan and Issac Norris. The Logan, Norris, and Dickinson families intermarried over several generations and objects originally associated with Norris and Dickinson family members are part of the collections at Stenton. The set of chairs was a large one with two armchairs, the one at Stenton and one at Winterthur Museum, and as many as twelve side chairs, many in private collections. Two chairs from the set sold separately this past January at Christie’s, New York.
Some objects were photographed in-situ as they were either too large or too delicate to move. This John Wood Jr. tall case clock is a recent bequest from the estate of Peter Edward Logan Luxmoore (1927-2020), a Logan descendent who lived it England, and came to Stenton in 2022. It has been placed in the small first floor lodging room at Stenton. The inventory taken in 1752 at Stenton includes “An Eight Day Clock” valued at 8 pounds in this room.
This desk, acquired in 1971 by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is not a Logan family piece but acts as a stand-in for the “Scrutore” that was in the parlor at the time of James Logan’s death in 1751. Over 120 detail images were made of the workings of the hidden compartments and construction techniques of the desk. Several of those images can be seen below. I plan a future blog post on how the misattribution of this desk to the Philadelphia cabinetmaker Stephen Armitt (1705-1751) came about, its complex construction and technical expertise, and changes to its appearance over time.
This small oval table was part Samuel Logan Betton’s (1842-1915) sizable 1915 bequest to Stenton. Betton was the son of (Sarah) Elizabeth (Logan) Betton (1812-1859) and the grandson of Maria (Dickinson) Logan (1783-1860) and Albanus Logan (1783-1853) who inherited Stenton from his father George Logan (1753- 1821) and mother Deborah (Norris) Logan (1761-1839). James Logan purchased oval tables from the Philadelphia cabinetmakers Edward Evans, John Widdowfield, and Thomas Stapleford.
This pair of stools also came to Stenton in 1915 as part of Samuel Logan Betton’s bequest. Albanus Charles Logan carved his initials on the interior of the seat frame in several locations. There were two family members of that name – Albanus Charles Logan (1783-1853) and one of his grandsons – Albanus Logan (1850-1930). The elder Albanus was also Betton’s grandfather and it was he who carved his initials into the stool frame.
This “Maple Chest of Drawers & Table” appear on James Logan’s 1752 inventory valued together at 7 pounds. In the inventory they stood in the Yellow Lodging Room where they stand today, a bequest of Pamela du Pont Copland in 2001. They were inherited by the Logan descendent Robert Restalrig Logan (1874-1956) who sold them to the mid-twentieth century antique dealer Joe Kindig, Jr. (1898-1971). Kindig sold the pair to Mr. and Mrs. Lammot du Pont Copeland.
The detail images of the high chest that follow display the type of photographic information now available for many objects in the collection.
The last day of the photography project found us working in the small room across the entry from the parlor. Today this room is interpreted as James Logans office. The 1752 inventory does not mention this room by name and it is unclear how this room was used originally. Logan could have conducted business here with visitors entering through a door on the side of the house. Troubled by “my lameness” after damaging his hip in 1728, James and his wife Sarah slept in a lodging room on the first floor. James may have kept a large portion of his library in this room to have access to his books without having to climb the stairs to the second story.
On long term loan to Stenton, this massive bookcase may have belonged to William (1717-1776) or George Logan (1753-1821), James and Sarah’s son and grandson who both were owners of Stenton but I have not seen the object file for the bookcase to confirm this provenance. The largest piece of furniture in the house, it could not handily be moved for photography but we did take the time to remove much furniture from the room in order to make the images of the two bookcases.
All photographs by Christopher Storb courtesy of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In Proportion to the Trouble 
Fabulous work. So great to have all that detail…excellent.
Many thanks Peter.
Wow! Thank you Christopher Storb for this furniture photography project of treasures at Stenton. You too are a treasure!
Thanks! Credit the the Dames and everyone at Stenton for believing this is a worthwhile project.
Yes indeed. Congratulations to all.
Dear Chris,
Your detailed photos are most welcome.
Did you happen to note the dimensions of the small walnut oval table? James Logan ordered a “Walnut Table” from John Head, on December 30, 1723, at eighteen shillings. That was considerably less than the two pounds and five shillings that Head charged for his most popular oval tables, those four feet in width. As the Stenton table appears smaller and bears a strong resemblance to one of those four-foot tables, it too may be an oval table from Head’s shop. The John Head Account Book, 56; The Cabinetmaker’s Account, 40, 194–195, figure 18.1.
These questions come to mind in deciding whether an attribution can be attempted: Apart from design, does the Stenton table bear other characteristics of Head’s shop, such as coarsely sawn kerf marks on the backs of drawer fronts? Are his “signature” chalk face marks on other drawer sides (to aid in assemblage)? If original, do the brass match others used by Head’s shop? Does the provenance of the table go as far back as Logan?
With thanks and all good wishes,
Jay
The oval table is the smallest version I’ve encountered. The dimensions should be in a caption of the object when it goes up on Stenton’s website, I was not recording dimensions during the project. But it is not larger than four feet and could be less. The Stenton curators will tell you that this was the most difficult object to compose for a photo especially when it is open. Camera height and getting all six feet in the view while obscuring as little of the elements took numerous adjustments.
There is nothing about the table that is characteristic of Heads work. The saw kerf extends only about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch on the drawer fronts and there are no shop marks on the drawer elements. The turnings do not correspond to the one oval table attributed to Head. It is a one drawer table and the brass is replaced. It originally had a single drop pull.
Logan purchased oval tables @2 pounds 12 shillings from Edward Evans in 1715 and 2 pounds 5 shillings from John Widdowfield in 1717. I think a walnut table at 18 shillings would probably not have leaves but would be a “square” table such as the table at the Peter Wentz House seen in an earlier post about the Bartram family joiner.
Provenance only goes as far back as Samuel Logan Betton. It is likely he believed the objects he bequeathed to Stenton were part of its furnishings at least at some point.
Chris
BTW, Samuel Logan Betton lived all his life in Germantown in the house he grew up in which is less than half a mile from Stenton, just on the other side of Loudoun from Stenton where his mother’s brother, Gustavus Logan (1815-1876) lived. He inherited the stools he bequeathed to Stenton from his grandfather Albanus C. Logan (1783-1853), likely through his mother, Albanus’ daughter, (Sarah) Elizabeth Logan Betton (1812-1859). Albanus owned Stenton but it is unclear without further research if he lived in the house after his mother, Deborah Norris Logan, died in 1839. Surely there must have been some word of mouth passed down through the generations about the objects they inherited.
Overcut saw marks, gunge behind brass handle plate and shelf support – all gold!
JP
Chris,
On the subject of “square” tables, the only order that John Head described as such was for the “squar walnut Table” for which he charged James Steel one pound on February 13, 1735. The John Head Account Book, 103 left (debits in account of James Steel).
So, your suggestion that the walnut table that Head supplied to James Logan may have been square is closer to the mark given that Head charged considerably more for his oval tables.
See also, The Cabinetmaker’s Account, 196, where there is discussion of the Steel table and other square walnut tables found in contemporary probate inventories.
Jay
Unfortunately, none of the walnut table in James Logan’s 1752 inventory are described as “oval,” they are either “walnut table” or “large walnut table” two of which were in the Hall and Entry. However, Sarah Logan’s inventory taken just two years later but at the city town house where she was residing at the time of her death and had moved furniture from Stenton, records a “Large Walnut Oval table” in her front parlor and a “large Oval Walnut Table” in her back parlor along with a “ditto smaller.” Perhaps the two large oval tables were the tables in the hall and entry at Stenton.
I have only quickly perused a copy of Ray Shepherd’s 1968 thesis, “James Logan’s Stenton: Grand Simplicity in Quaker Philadelphia” in Stenton’s archives and have not examined Logan’s account books at HSP, there is so much more ground to cover to flesh out this story. The tables Logan purchased from Edward Evans and John Widdowfield cost 2 pounds 12 shillings and 2 pounds 5 shillings respectively. I haven’t seen the entries for these tables to know if they were further described as to size. But in 1717 10 month Logan purchased a “Large Oval Table from Thomas Stapleford for 3 pounds 15 shillings.