During the 17th century, the American colonies (excluding the Canadian provinces) were governed by Britain. Between 1630 and 1643, around 20,000 English men and women emigrated to colonial America seeking opportunities in a new land. Design influences emanated from the styles the colonialists favoured from home.
While the southern colonies were largely populated by the English, New York and the middle colonies were mainly settled by German, Dutch, and also Scandinavian immigrants.
Most activity was concentrated in the port towns, especially on the eastern seaboard, where the fashionable commodities of the new arrivals were enthusiastically embraced. Boston became the centre of colonial trade. However, it took time for these, now antique furniture developments to reach the rural outlying areas of the colonies.
Most of the early settlers with woodworking skills were joiners rather than cabinet makers (although the term cabinet maker became more common as the century progressed).
No formal reception furniture was made in America. Colonial American furniture resembled the vernacular furniture made in Europe, rather than Baroque court styles.
Red Oak Joint Stool
A standard form of vernacular furniture, the joint stool was common in colonial America, where European settlers greatly influenced handmade furniture design.
Domestic Styles
Chests and simple tables were common in colonial homes. Chests were mainly used for storing expensive textiles, such as the finest household linens. Most homes had two principal rooms, and the furniture was simple and functional. Chests, or blanket chests as they were known in the colonies, had a lid that was lifted to reveal as single space for storage and often a 'till' on the side - an additional, smaller storage space with a cover.
Many cupboards were of simple plank construction, but others had tongue-and-groove panelling with carved and painted decoration.
Case pieces included the cupboard (or 'court cupboard'), which is closely related to the English buffet. It served a similar purpose in the New England colonies - the display of silver plate - and would have been covered with an expensive textiles. Later cupboards had drawers below, rather than doors.
These evolved into chests with two or three drawers, and by the 18th century became chests of drawers in the style that we recognise today.
Chairs and stools, made by joiners and completed by upholsterers, were produced in Boston from around 1660.
Day beds and couches were also made, but only for the wealthy. By early 18th century, these were being exported to other colonies. Great chairs were important household items. These high backed chairs had a turned front stretcher. Some were upholstered in leather, the brass tacks anchoring the leather serving as decoration - others had a simple rush seat.
Sometimes these chairs are called 'brewster' chairs, named after one of the prominent puritan elders.
The linen cupboard, or kas, a typical Low Country or German piece, was made in New York and New Jersey, but rarely in New England or the south. usually made of local woods, the kas mirrored popular architectural styles and was often painted. Early examples had ball feet, while later cupboards had bracket feet.
Little southern furniture from this period survives, owing to the hot, humid climate, but historians do know of several forms. Southern joint stools were made in walnut rather than the traditional oak favoured in England and the rest of the colonies. Carved chests were used, and some joined chests made of walnut survive. A carved chest made specifically for church use by Richard Perrot dates from the late 17th century.
Chairs were made of turned wood, with leather or rush coverings.
Native Wood
Owing to the different climates of the colonial states, the types of wood used varied tremendously. Furniture makers in the north used maple, oak, pine, and cherry, while those in the middle and southern colonies used tulipwood, cedar, southern pitch pine, and walnut.
Immigrant joiners and craftsmen along the eastern seaboard gradually began to use local woods, as these were less expensive than imported timbers. The choice of wood is important in determining the origin of colonial furniture, especially as the style of many pieces closely resembles English non fitted and fitted furniture of the time.
Boston Japanned Furniture
The craze for all things 'Oriental' reached the colonies, especially the prosperous seaport of Boston.
Japanning was the art of imitating Oriental lacquerwork. English merchants imported fashionable commodities, and japanned objects were brought to Boston in great quantities, as these items were considered a mark of status for wealthy colonials.
At least a dozen Boston japanners were working by the first half of the 18th century. Usually American japanning was done on white pine. Imitating lacquerwork required ingenuity - vermilion was applied to the surface with lampblack to achieve the effect of tortoiseshell.
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