A nearly identical high chest to the signed Henry Cliffton/Thomas Carteret at Colonial Williamsburg was sold in 2008. This image of the cornice shows a bonnet with a shaped bolt of yellow poplar fixed between the top of the scroll mouldings and the backboard. No carved shell drawers in chests made in Philadelphia during the … Continue reading Another Bonnet
Furniture
From the Archives
I am slowly scanning and processing decades worth of images from B.D. (Before Digital) This black walnut desk was probably made in Chester County, Pennsylvania, c. 1770. I was quite new to the world of furniture restoration then and even though this was a remarkable and complicated object I assumed I would come across this … Continue reading From the Archives
“People like bonnets. I don’t think you can under-estimate that” Andrew Davies
A comment on a previous post about enclosed bonnets on mid-18th century high chests cited another solution to their design. Instead of a flat board running front to back supporting the superstructure, a round, a roughly shaped bolt of yellow poplar or white cedar could be fit between the tympanum and the backboard which had … Continue reading “People like bonnets. I don’t think you can under-estimate that” Andrew Davies
Colonial Williamsburg Escritoire
The link in the last post to the scriptor stamped Edwards Evans/1707 continues to revert back to the CWF opening Online search page. To view the scriptor page type in "escritoire" in the quick search box on the lower left and you will be directed to photos and a description of the scriptor. The uses … Continue reading Colonial Williamsburg Escritoire
“I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.” T. S. Eliot
I noticed something interesting several years ago when several of us were asked to examine two highly ornamented 18th century Philadelphia tea tables that are similar in overall form, to see if we could determine whether they were made as a pair of tables for a single client or simply two similar tables made by … Continue reading “I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.” T. S. Eliot
In Proportion to the Trouble 