Earlier this month, a table that was part of the exhibition “Worldly Goods, the Arts of Early Pennsylvania, 1680-1758” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (October 1999 to January 2000), resurfaced at Brunk Auctions in Ashville, North Carolina. It was published in the catalogue of the “Worldly Goods” exhibition on page 144, figure 49. The … Continue reading To A Table
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A John Brocas High Chest
The Autumn 2020 issue of the magazine Antiques & Fine Art contains the first of a series of articles I am writing to introduce the Dietrich American Foundation’s furniture collection to a broader public. The Dietrich American Foundation was founded in 1963 by H. Richard Dietrich Jr. to collect and research American decorative and fine art, primarily … Continue reading A John Brocas High Chest
Secondary Wood Species, Part 1
The joiners who immigrated to the Delaware River Valley in the last quarter of the seventeenth and the first quarter of the eighteenth centuries, and the American-born joiners they trained, had a choice of timbers to use for secondary elements in their furniture. In Britain, the hardwood white oak (Quercus alba) and two softwoods, Red … Continue reading Secondary Wood Species, Part 1
Penn’s Woods
“The trees of most note are the black walnut, cedar, cypress, chestnut, poplar, gumwood, hickory, sassafras, ash, beech; and oak of divers sorts, as red, white, and black, Spanish, chestnut, and swamp, the most durable of all; of all which there is plenty for the use of man.” Letter from William Penn, Proprietary and Governor … Continue reading Penn’s Woods
A Uniform Coat
On February 13, 1776 Thomas Nevell credited Thomas Proctor for a "Uniform Coat" and Edward Bonsall for a "pair of Lether breechs". July was six months off but the Continental Congress had previously met in Philadelphia at Carpenters' Hall, which Nevell had helped design and build, in 1774 and 1775. In December 1775, John and … Continue reading A Uniform Coat
