In January we had the opportunity to examine a c. 1715 Delaware River Valley dressing table at Christie's. Furniture historians have been aware of this table since the publication of Wallace Nutting's Furniture of the Pilgrim Century 1620-1720 in 1921. It was subsequently illustrated as plate 394 in Nutting's Furniture Treasury, at the time in the … Continue reading “A Table to Suit”
Joinery
“Cr: David Ainsworth
for a Frontish Piece Door in the Back front of Cap. McPhersons House towards Schoulkill @ 25 pounds." On March 30, 1764 another of Thomas Nevell's skilled journeyman, David Ainsworth, was credited 25 pounds for creating the "Back front" frontispiece at Mount Pleasant. His work had been measured by two leading Carpenters Company members, Robert … Continue reading “Cr: David Ainsworth
“Forests were the first temples of God and in forests men grasped their first idea of architecture.” James C. Snyder
"Where columns are turned out of the solid, charge according to the trouble of procuring the stuff, sawing them off, hewing, and attendance on the boring, turning and fixing them up." Articles of the Carpenters Company of Philadelphia: And Their Rules for Measuring and Valuing House-Carpenters Work, Philadelphia, 1786 Interior columns were glued up. The … Continue reading “Forests were the first temples of God and in forests men grasped their first idea of architecture.” James C. Snyder
Dressing Table Restoration, Part 3, Corners
With the modern legs removed, the tenons of the front rail and sides are revealed. There are four separate tenons on the side board, the bottom tenon flush with the bottom of the side and the top tenon (the top tenon is cropped out of this photo) begins a half an inch below the top. … Continue reading Dressing Table Restoration, Part 3, Corners
In Proportion to the Trouble 