A Chest on Stand

Chest of drawers on stand. Delaware River Valley, possibly Philadelphia c. 1715. Black walnut, hard pine, Atlantic white cedar, brass, iron. The legs and stretchers of the stand are replaced. Wood caps at the corners and cock beading that would have been nailed to arch cutouts in the bottom rail are missing. Brass pulls and …

Furniture at Stenton

Stenton, Philadelphia, Penn. Completed 1730. The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania opened Stenton as a house museum in 1900. They have led the stewardship and preservation of Stenton for 124 years. Over the past month I have been engaged in a furniture photography project at Stenton, the …

A Venerated Armchair, Part 2

There are two other marks on the mid-eighteenth-century Philadelphia armchair in the previous post. The mark G. B. Wood can be found on the lower surface of both the front and rear seat rails. Brand "G. B. Wood" on the lower surface of the front seat rail. Christie's photograph. Brand "G. B. Wood" on the lower surface …

A Venerated Armchair, Part 1

A black walnut compassed armchair made in Philadelphia c. 1755 was placed on loan earlier this year at Stenton Museum. Compassed armchair in a ground floor room at Stenton. Private collection. The reasons for the loan are varied and are touched upon in auction catalogue essays for related armchairs - including that for the armchair …

1 Couch & Couch Bed & Cushions

Rush-seat couch. Made in southeastern Pennsylvania, c. 1755. Maple, oak, yellow poplar, black walnut, bull-rush. Dietrich American Foundation collection. In 1997 the Dietrich American Foundation placed a rush-seat couch on long-term loan to Stenton Museum. It resides in the room on the ground floor called "the Back Dining Room" in the 1752 probate inventory of …