The Furniture of Our Forefathers by Esther Singleton Russell Sturgis

Author:Esther Singleton , Russell Sturgis
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Doubleday, Page & company
Published: 1913-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

JAPANNED CLOCK CLOCK

wibe Hanrack Heute, Bt-ilBH. OtvneJ by Mill Made hy Richard Manning, l^itiiich, Man., icy Gray &wttt and presir'ued in thr Museum IJ^T- ^"'^ '" '*' Essex Inililule,

tf Fine Aril, Bailan, Man. See fiif^e ij6. Saltm, Man. See page J2j.

MAHOGANY DUMBWAITER AND SQUARE TABLE

Oitmtd by ihr MiutJ Bumttt, Elmiveeil, CamtriJgt, Man. Sttfiagfjd^.

THE FURNITURE OF OUR FOREFATHERS

therefore beg the favour of you. Sir, to procure and send a neat gold carved frame of eight feet in length and five feet in width by the first ship in as small a box as may be, as it will reduce the freight." They hoped it might be bought for about eight guineas.

An exceedingly handsome mirror of the period is shown on page 360. It is of mahogany and is profusely ornamented with gilt. This belongs to Mrs. Wainwright of Hartford, Conn., having descended to her through the Tal-cott family.

Tables are still made principally of oak and black walnut ; very rarely do we find one of ash and chestnut. Mahogany tables are very scarce for many years. There are many estates from 1730 to 1740 of between two and eight thousand pounds in which none of mahogany are recorded. After 1750 they are plentiful. Marble tables of different sizes and colours are advertised in 1755; mahogany stand tables, 1758; marble table with mahor;any frame, 1760 ; a neat mahogany bureau table, 1761 ; and mahogany tables with claw feet, 1768.

Four tables are shown facing page 318. One has already been described on page 321. Of the four specimens the one in the upper left-hand corner is the handsomest. It was owned by Silas Deane, first minister from the United States to France. The top is a solid piece of mahogany, measuring 38^^ inches in diameter. The edge is slightly raised. The acanthus is carved on the legs, which end in dog's feet clasping a ball. Washington, Lafayette, Rocham-beau and Beaumarchais are said to have taken tea upon it. This piece of furniture is in the rooms of the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford. The table in the upper right-hand corner is also of mahogany, but is of smaller size

THE FURNITURE OF OUR FOREFATHERS

than the one just described. It was in the wedding outfit of Lois Orne in 1770. This is now in the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. The table in the lower left-hand corner is of painted wood and a piece of iron is under each of the three feet. This table belonged to Nathaniel Silsbee, of Salem, in the early part of the eighteenth century, and is now in possession of his descendant, Mrs. Edward C. Pickering, Observatory, Cambridge, Mass. Another table of mahogany with falling leaves appears on page 379. This belongs to Mrs. Wainwright, Hartford, Conn.; and a square table owned by the Misses Burnett, at Elmwood^ Cambridge, faces page 368, with a dumb-waiter of mahogany, also owned by them. The latter frequently occurs in the inventories.

The tea-table is present in every home that has any claim to comfort. In

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