Index

Abbott, Samuel, 5

Account books, as source of information, 73–74

Adams, John, 77, 252, 253

Adams National Historic Site, 50

Allen, James, 26, 33

Allen, Jeremy, 34

Altars, baroque, 160

American Revolution, 196

Anglicans, as owners of bombé pieces, 196

Apprenticeship, 11

Apthorp, Charles, 33, 150, 151, 196

Armchairs, xii, fig. 7 (xiii), fig. 28 (38); Queen Anne, 42, fig. 30 (41); at Winterthur, 202, 204, fig. 148 (214); at Yale, 202, 204, fig. 141 (203); at Israel Sack, Inc., 202, 204, fig. 147 (212). See also Chairs; Side chairs

Atkins, Gibbs, 184–186, 196, fig. 129 (183), fig. 130 (185), fig. 131 (187)

Atkinson, James, 57

Attribution, explained, xvi

Badger, Joseph, x

Badlam, Stephen, xiin

Bagnall, Benjamin, 16, 50

Ballard, Daniel, 4

Ballard, Joseph, 4

Baltimore, 112

Baltimore Museum of Art, 51

Banister backs, 42

Baroque style: in silver, 144–145; caudle cup, fig. 99 (146); canns, 145, fig. 100 (147); incorporating bombé, 160

Barrell, Joseph, 191, 196

Barrett, Ann, 178

Barrett, John, 178

Barrett, Samuel, 176, 177, 178, 196

Bartlett, Lu, xiv

Baxter, Joseph, 99

Bayou Bend, 39; high chests at, 54, fig. 39 (58); chairs at, 65, fig. 48 (68); chest at, 195, fig. 137 (193)

Bed bottom makers, 15

Bed curtain, fig. 27 (37)

Beds: camp, 15, fig. 12 (17); cost of, 31–32

Beekman, William, 28

Before (Hogarth), 30, fig. 23 (31)

Berain, Jean, 163–164, fig. 113 (165)

Beverly, Mass., 79, 108

Bills and receipts, as sources of information, 74

Birket, James, 3

Black walnut, 251, 252

Blanchard, Eliza, 65, 68

Blockfront furniture, viii, fig. 4 (ix); characteristics of, 79–80; Boston vs. Newport, 81–90, 108; earliest example of, 90–94, fig. 62 (91); Coit-Davis work, 94–100; Salem types, 121–125

Blocking, 79

Bombé construction: early, 172, fig. 97 (142), fig. 120 (171); later, 172–173, fig. 121 (173)

Bombé furniture, Boston: characteristics of, 137, 172–173; prototypes of, 137–138; popularity of, 138–140; terminology, 140–144; origins and influences on, 144–166; sources of English design, 158–166; typical Boston design, 166; identification of, 167; makers of, 176–195; summary of, 195–196; ownership of, 196. See also Bombé construction

Bond, Matthew, 9

Bonner, John, town of Boston, fig. 8 (6–7), fig. 9 (8), fig. 10 (10)

Bookcases, 18. See also Desks and bookcases

Borland, John, 253

Boston: 18th-century limits of, xvi, fig. 8 (6–7); craftsmen in, 3; area of craftsmen, 9; economy of, 9–11; population of, 12; specialization in, 47; colonial elegance of, 77; carved chairs from, 197–206; Hepplewhite chairs of, 242; woods used by cabinetmakers in, 251–253. See also Boston blockfront chests; Bombé furniture; Chairs; Chests of drawers

Boston blockfront chests: construction of, 81–86; feet of, 86–89, fig. 60, fig. 61 (88); variety of, 90; documented examples of, 90–101; discontinuity between parts of, 108, 111; summary of, 131; source of, 131, 133. See also Chests-on-chests; Chests of drawers

“Boston Furniture of the Eighteenth Century,” conference, vi; questions raised by, xii–xiv

Boston News-Letter, The, 252

Boston Prints and Printmakers 1670–1775, vii

Boston State House, codfish in, 213

Boston University, American and New England Studies Program, xiv, xv

Boulle, André-Charles, 162–163, fig. 112 (164)

Bowdoin, James: desk owned by, fig. 14 (19); desk and bookcase owned by, 57, fig. 46 (66)

Bowen, Nathan, 111, fig. 95 (138)

Bowles, Joshua, 199, 215

Boylston, Nick, 77

Braintree, Mass., 131

Brasses, 226, 248

Brazer, Esther Stevens, 72, 73

Breck, John, 42

Bright, George, 5, 176, fig. 124 (177), fig. 140 (200), 198–199, 223, 238; carving on bookcase by, 197

Brinley, Edward, 196

Bristol City Art Gallery, 108

Brocas, John, 9

Brooke, David, 236

Brookline, Mass., xvi

Brown, Gawen, 51, 54; clocks by, fig. 36 (53)

Bulfinch, William, 15

Burdit, Jacob, 14

Bureau table, xii, fig. 18 (23); by Woodward, 20

Burnaby, Andrew, 13, 77

Bybee, Charles L., 16, 65

Bybee, Mrs. Charles L., 16, 65

Cabinet and Chair-Maker’s Real Friend and Companion (Manwaring), 210

Cabinet Dictionary, The (Sheraton), 15, 17

Cabinetmakers, 3; preeminence of, 197. See also specific types of furniture by name, as Blockfront furniture, Bombé furniture, etc.

Cabriole style, 226, fig. 156 (228), fig. 158 (230)

Cade, G., 157, fig. 108 (160), fig. 119 (170), fig. 120 (171)

Call, Ebenezer, 5

Cambridge, Mass., xvi

Camlet, 39

Camp bed, fig. 12 (17)

Canns and tankards, 145–146

Card tables, 226, fig. 156 (228), 245

Carvers, 3; Luckis, 9, 215, 221; anonymity of, 199; J. Welch, 213–215; J. Bowles, 215; S. Skillin, Sr., 221; employed by A. Edwards, 221

Carving: on bombé furniture, 196; styles of, 197; impossible to attribute to known workmen, 199; on Cogswell chest, 197–200; on Bright desk, 197, 200–201; third style, 197, 201–206

Cary, Samuel, 33

Cassone, bombé character of, 158

Central America, mahogany from, 252

Chairs: makers of, 3, 9; arranged by type of splats, 208–210. See also Armchairs; Easy chairs; Elbow chairs; Side chairs; Splats

Charleston, S.C., 5, 137; Warham’s success in, 13

Charlestown, Mass., vi, xvi; blockfront pieces made in, 79; follower of Boston pattern, 89; chests-on-chests from, 109; Frothingham of, 109, 223

Charlotte, Queen, 158, 161

Cherry wood, 253

Cherubs, in japanned design, 54

Chests-on-chests, 108–109; by Frothingham, fig. 1 (vi), 241; blockfront, 101, fig. 72 (104); by Treadwell, fig. 74 (106); by Watson, 109–111, fig. 76 (110); from Marblehead, 111, fig. 77 (113); by Bowen and Martin, fig. 95 (139); with hollowed pediment, fig. 96 (141); by Cogswell, 178, fig. 125 (179)

Chests of drawers: blockfront, viii, fig. 4 (ix); by Holmes, 18; Newport, 82, fig. 49 (80); Boston, 82, fig. 50 (81); attributed to Cogswell, 182, fig. 128 (182), fig. 142 (205); Salem, fig. 136 (192), fig. 137 (193); by Frothingham, 238, 240–241

Cheyney, 34

Chimney pieces, baroque, 160, fig. 110 (162)

Chinese fretwork, 173

Chippendale, Thomas, 144, 149, 196, fig. 98 (145), 149, fig. 118 (169); commode press by, 165, fig. 116 (168); tea caddy designed by, fig. 134 (190)

Chippendale style: in bombé construction, 173; example of, 178; two-dimensionality of carving on, 201; American, symmetricality of, 201

Christ Church, Spitalfields, 143

Cincinnati, Society of, 225

Clarke, Mary, 178

Clarke, Sukey (Mrs. Copley), 178

Clocks, with japanned cases, 57. See also Tall case clocks

Clough, Ebenezer, 11

Club of Odd Volumes, xi

Cobb, John, 165, fig. 117 (168)

Coddington, Colonel, 39

Cogswell, John: chests by, xii, 140, 146, 176, fig. 125 (179), 178, 181, fig. 139 (198), fig. 143 (206); desk and bookcase attributed to, fig. 126 (180), fig. 127 (181); characteristics of, 184; carving by, fig. 128 (182), 197, fig. 139 (198), fig. 142 (205); carvers employed by, 199

Coit, Job, 9, 86, 90, 99, 131; blockfront furniture by, 90–94, fig. 62 (91), fig. 63 (92), 95–96, fig. 65 (96)

Coit, Job, Jr., 90, 93

Coit family, 11

Colonial American Furniture (Lockwood), 143

Colonial Society of Massachusetts, vii, xiv

Colonial Williamsburg, 245

Colors: of upholstery, 39; of leather, 39

Commode: and the bombé shape, 143; by Boulle, 162–163, fig. 112 (164); from Berain, fig. 113 (165); “French,” 165, fig. 114 (166); English, fig. 115 (167); by Cobb, 165, fig. 117 (168)

Commode press, by Chippendale, fig. 166 (168)

Commode table, plate by Chippendale, 144, fig. 118 (169)

Compass boxes, japanning of, 74

Concealed well, in desk, 16

Concord, Mass., 79; follower of Boston pattern, 89; blockfront furniture of, 125–126

Conifer timbers, 254–255

Connecticut, 89, 131

Cookson, Elizabeth, 26

Copley, John Singleton, x, 75, 178; portrait of Mrs. Ezekiel Goldthwait, fig. 6 (xi); portrait of Josiah Quincy, 128, fig. 92 (134)

Cornelius, Charles Over, 143

Corser, John, 9

Coysevox, Antoine, 163

Croom, Stephens, 241

Croom, Mrs. Stephens, 241

Currier Gallery of Art, 236

Cushing, Thomas, Jr., 95

Danforth, Abiel, 26

Danforth, Rev. Samuel, 26

Dating of furniture, xvi, 225

Davis, Caleb, 176, 178

Davis, Joseph, 98–100, 131; lack of sophistication in, 101

Davis, Robert, 11, 51, 72, fig. 35 (52); inventory of, 73

Deland, Mary, 225

Delaware, 89, 131

Derby, Elias Hasket, 145, 178, 179, 196

Derby family, 140

Desk interiors: Boston, 115; Newport, 116, fig. 82 (118)

Desks, 16, fig. 14 (19); by Holmes and employees, 18; blockfront, 112, 114–115, fig. 80 (116), fig. 81 (117); by Frothingham, 112, fig. 78 (114), 235–240, fig. 163 (237), fig. 164 (238), fig. 165 (239), fig. 166 (239), fig. 167 (240), fig. 168 (242), fig. 170 (244); by Rust, fig. 81 (121), 122; English, fig. 107 (159); Salem, fig. 138 (194); of G. Cade, 157, fig. 108 (160)

Desks and bookcases: English, fig. 46 (66), fig. 47 (67), fig. 73 (105); fig. 93 (135), fig. 102 (151), fig. 105 (155); early blockfront, 90, fig. 62 (91), fig. 63 (92), fig. 70 (102), fig. 71 (103); Boston and Newport, 116, fig. 83 (119); Salem type, 122, fig. 86 (123), fig. 87 (124), fig. 88 (127); for Josiah Quincy, 126, 128, 131, fig. 91 (132); by Frothingham and Sprage, 140, fig. 97 (143), fig. 162 (234); by McMillian, fig. 101 (148), 149; Netherlands, 152, fig. 103 (153); of Hancock family, fig. 106 (156); by G. Bright, 176, fig. 124 (177); by Cogswell, 178, fig. 126 (180); by Atkins, 185, fig. 129 (183), fig. 130 (185), fig. 131 (187); of Wm. Greenleaf, fig. 132 (188), fig. 133 (189); of Jos. Barrell, fig. 135 (191); by Frothingham, 226, fig. 159 (231), fig. 160 (232), fig. 161 (233)

Detroit Institute of Art, 57

DeWolf family, 219

Dietrich Brothers Americana Corporation, xiv

Dining table, by Frothingham, 266, fig. 158 (230)

Documents, bearing on japanners, 73–75

Dorchester, Mass., xiin, xvi

Douglass, William, 252, 253

Downs, Joseph, 204

Drawers: of desks, 16–17; pillared, 18, fig. 15 (20); of Newport vs. Boston chests, 86, figs. 58, 59 (87); of bombé furniture, 172–173, 182–183

Dressing glasses, 173, fig. 122 (174), fig. 123 (175)

Dressing tables: slate-top, fig. 2 (viii); japanned, 57, fig. 41 (60), fig. 43 (62); possibly by Coit, 95, fig. 65 (96); with flat blocking, fig. 67 (97); by Davis, fig. 68 (98); by Frothingham, fig. 155 (227)

Dupee, Isaac, 213

DuPont, William, xiv

Earls, William T., 228

Early American Furniture (Cornelius), 143

East, John, 28

Easy chair, fig. 25 (35)

Economy based on barter, 9, 11

Edwards, Alexander, 199, 223; carvers employed by, 221

Edwards, Benjamin, 221

Egg and dart molding, 178

Elbow chair, 40, fig. 28 (38)

Emerson, William, 80, 125

England: blockfront furniture from, fig. 73 (105), 108; use of recessed blocking in, 133, fig. 93 (135); prototypes of bombé pieces from, 137, 146–150, fig. 102 (151), 157, fig. 105 (155), fig. 107 (159); popularity of bombé style in, 157–158; sources of bombé furniture from, 158–164; development of bombé commode in, 164–165, 195–196

Erwin, Col., 247

Essex Institute, 39

Exports from Boston, 4–5

Fairbanks, Jonathan, vii

Fales, Dean, x, 49–69

Fales, Martha Gandy, 74

Faneuil, Peter, 33

Faulkner, Edward, 57

Feet: on Boston vs. Newport chests, 86–89, figs. 60, 61 (88); on Cogswell casepieces, 199, fig. 139 (198), fig. 128 (182), fig. 142 (205); on Bright casepieces, 200, fig. 140 (200); “plain,” 225; ogee bracket, 235–236; on desk by Frothingham, 237–238, fig. 169 (243)

Feke, Robert, x

Figuring, 39

Finials, 15

Fisk, Samuel, xiin, xiii, 251

Fitch, Thomas, 24; career of, 26, 27–32; as importer, 27, 32; leather used by, 39; styles of chairs by, 39–47

Flayderman, Philip, 245

Fleeson, Plunkett, 5

Foot, Thomas, 252

Ford, Henry, Museum, 54, 236

Forman, Benno, vii

Forsyth, John, 5

France: commode en tombeau in, 143; development of bombé commode in, 163–165, fig. 112 (164), fig. 113 (165), fig. 114 (166), 195

Frothingham, Benjamin (i), 140, 223, 235

Frothingham, Major Benjamin (ii), vi, 131, 140, 157, 158, 223–249; chest-on-chest by, fig. 1 (vi), 109, 241; bombé desk and bookcase by, xii, 140, fig. 97 (142), 172, 176, fig. 162 (234); documentation of work by, xvi; blockfront desk by, 112, fig. 78 (114); high chest by, fig. 154 (224); dressing table by, fig. 155 (227); card table by, 226, fig. 156 (228); dining table by, 226, fig. 158 (230); label of, 226, fig. 157 (229), 236; secretaries by, 226–235, fig. 159 (231), fig. 160 (232), fig. 161 (233); desks by, 235–241, fig. 163 (237), fig. 164 (238), fig. 165 (239), fig. 166 (239), fig. 167 (240); chests of drawers by, 238, 240–241; furniture in Hepplewhite style, 242–245, fig. 171 (246), fig. 142 (249); bills and inventories of, 245–247

Frothingham, Benjamin (iii), 225

Frothingham, Walter, 241

Frothingham family, 11, 93

Fullerton, William, 5

Furniture of the Olden Time (Morse), 143

Furniture of Our Forefathers (Singleton), 140

Gardner, Samuel Pickering, 65, fig. 48 (68)

Garvan Collection (Yale University), 109; desk from, 114, fig. 80 (116); desk and bookcase from, 125, fig. 88 (127)

Gavet, Jonathan, 193

Gay, Martin, 186, 187, 196

Gay, Ruth Atkins, 186, 187

Genteel Household Furniture in the Present Taste, 158

Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, The (Chippendale), 144, 149, 196; tall clock from, fig. 98 (145), 149; French commodes in, 166, fig. 116 (168), fig. 118 (169); tea caddy in, fig. 134 (190)

Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., 125, fig. 89 (129)

Gold, I., 248

Goldberg, Joyce, xv

Goldthwait, Mrs. Ezekiel, portrait by Copley, fig. 6 (xi)

Gooding, Timothy, Jr., 15

Goodwin, Abigail, 178

Gore, John, 5, 72

Grant, Moses, 27

Grant, Samuel, 4, 24; career of, 26–27, 32–34; as exporter, 32–33; prices charged by, 34; materials used by, 34–38; styles of chairs made by, 39–47, 48

Gray, William, 5

Green, Isaac, 178

Green family, 107

Greenlaw, Barry, xiv

Greenleaf, Stephen, 118

Greenleaf, William, 186, 188, 196

Halifax, 184, 186

Hancock, John, 215

Hancock, Thomas, 176

Hancock family, 156

Harlot’s Progress, A (Hogarth), fig. 21 (29)

Harrateen, 34, fig. 25 (35), fig. 26 (36)

Hartshorne, Ebenezer, 24, fig. 19 (25), 223

“Harvard” chests, 69

Harvard University, x

Harwood, Mrs. Sidney, 235–236

Heller, Mrs., 72

Henchman, Daniel, 9, 91

Hepplewhite style, work by Frothingham in, 242–245, fig. 171 (246), fig. 172 (249)

Higgins, Marcy, 197–198

High chests, 18, fig. 16 (21), fig. 17 (22); by Hartshorne, 24, fig. 19 (25); by Davis, 51, fig. 35 (52); by Pimm, 54, fig. 37 (55); in Museum of Fine Arts, 54, fig. 38 (56); in Metropolitan Museum, 57, fig. 40 (59), fig. 42 (61), fig. 44 (63); at Deerfield, fig. 45 (64); at Bayou Bend, 54, fig. 39 (58); blockfront, 125, fig. 90 (130); by Frothingham, fig. 154 (224)

Hinckley, Thomas, dressing table owned by, fig. 2 (viii)

Historic Deerfield: high chest at, 57, fig. 45 (64); chairs at, 65; Frothingham desks at, 112, fig. 78 (114), 237–238, fig. 168 (242), fig. 169 (243)

Hitchings, Sinclair, vi, x, 71–75

Hogarth, William, 29, 30, 77, fig. 21 (29), fig. 23 (31)

Holmes, Nathaniel, 9, 13, 21, 95; career of, 14–15; output of, 15–23; prices paid by, 23–24; rural artisans of, 47

Holyoke, Edward, 46

Hooper, Silas, 30

Horsebone feet, 42, 48

Hosmer, Joseph, 125, fig. 90 (130), 131, 235

Houghton Library, Harvard University, viii

Hovey, James, 15

Hughes, Robert, 72

Hugo, E. Harold, xv

Hull, John, 145; caudle cup by, fig. 99 (146)

Hurd, Nathaniel, 226, fig. 157 (229), 236, 240, 241

Hutchinson, Governor Thomas, 150, 152, 153, 196

Hyder, Darrell, xiv, xv

Immigrants, and the furniture industry, 12

Ingraham, John, 93

Ingraham, Joseph, 4

Inlay, 236

Inventories, as source of information, 73

Japanners, 3, 71–75; list of known, 72; sources of information on, 72–75; anonymity of, 75

Japanning: on looking glasses, 47; Boston process of, 49–50; designs used in, 50; by Davis, 51; by Johnston, 51, 54; cherubs used in, 54; sources of designs for, 57–60; Boston a center for, 60–62; early and late styles, 62, 65; heyday of, 65

Jobe, Barbara, xv

Jobe, Brock, vii, viii, xv, 3–48, 93, 251–253

Johnson, Edward C, xiv

Johnson, Mrs. Edward C, xiv

Johnson, Thomas, 9, 14, 23

Johnston, Benjamin, 72, 74

Johnston, John, 72

Johnston, Thomas, 50, 53; trade cards of, fig. 24 (33), 50, 54, 60, 71; tall clock japanned by, 54, fig. 36 (53); inventory of, 73

Johnston, Thomas, Jr., 72, 74

Johnston and Rea, account books of, 73

Johnston, William, 9, 75

Joiners, 3

Kaye, Myrna, xiv, xv, 267–268

Kent, William, 150

“Kettle shape,” 143

Kindig, Joseph, iii, 245

Kinsey, John P., xiv

Kinship ties: conservatism linked to, 11–12; N. Holmes as example, 13–14

Knox, General Henry, 247

Lamb, Aimée, xiv

Lamb, Rosamond, xiv

Lamb, Thomas: blockfront chest owned by, viii, fig. 4 (ix); armchairs owned by, xii, fig. 7 (xiii)

Lampson, 5

Lane family, 216

Leach, John, 45

Leather, for upholstery, fig. 28 (38), 39, 40

Lebrun, Charles, 160, 163

Legs, 206; lathe-turned, 15; cabriole, 225

Letters, as sources of information, 75

Lo Nano, Ernest, 226–227, 232, 237

Lockwood, Luke Vincent, 140, 143

London, fashions copied from, 28–30. See also England

Looking glasses: work of japanners on, 47, 57, 65; sold by Welch, 213. See also Dressing glasses

Lopez, Isaac, 28, 39

Lord, Robert, 14

Loring, Commodore Joshua, 54

Louis XIV, 164

Louis XV style, 165

Lovell, Margaretta Markle, vii, viii, 77–135

Luckis, Thomas, 9, 215

Mahogany, 251, 252

Makers of Boston bombé furniture: B. Frothingham, fig. 97 (142), 172, 176; J. McMillian, fig. 101 (148), 176; G. Bright, 176–178, fig. 124 (177), fig. 140 (200); J. Cogswell, 140, 146, fig. 125 (179), 176, 178, 181, 184, fig. 139 (198), fig. 143 (206); G. Atkins, 184–186, fig. 129 (183), fig. 130 (185); H. Rust, 193–195

Malden, Mass., 14, 47

Manwaring, Robert, 210

Maple, 253

Marblehead, Mass., 15, 108; follower of Boston, 89; Bowen and Martin in, 111, 139

Marblehead Historical Society, 194

Martin, Ebenezer, 111, fig. 95 (138)

Mask-carved knees, fig. 3 (ix)

Mason, David, 72

Massachusetts Historical Society, 209

Massachusetts State House, 176

McKillister, Daniel, 15

McMillian, James, 9, 149; desk and bookcase by, fig. 101 (148), 176

Merchants, as buyers of house furnishings, 5–9

Metropolitan Museum of Art: high chest in, 54, fig. 40 (59), 57, fig. 44 (63), fig. 42 (61); dressing table in, fig. 43 (62); desk and bookcase, 125, fig. 87 (124); side chairs in, 208, 210

Molasses Act, 12

Monetary values, xvi

Montgomery, Charles F., xiin, xiv

Moreen, 39

Morse, Frances Clary, 143

Motley, Richard, 57

Mudge, John, 14, 23

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Dept. of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, vi; exhibition of furniture at, viii, xiv; high chest in, 54, fig. 38 (56); chest-on-chest in, 111, fig. 77 (113); desk in, 116, fig. 81 (117); side chairs in, 204–205

Nelson Gallery, 245

Netherlands, furniture from, 150

New Bedford, Mass., 186

New England Prospects (Wood), 251

New York City, 112, 131, 137; Boston furniture to, 5; japanning in, 49, 60

Newport, 28, 47; blockfront chests from, 81–89; movement of craftsmen from Boston to, 118. See also Newport chests

Newport chests, 81–89, fig. 49 (80), fig. 51 (82), 131; construction of, 82–86; backs of, fig. 54 (84); drawers of, 86; feet of, 86–89, fig. 60 (88); interiors of, 115–116

Newspaper advertisements, as source of information, 75

Nichols family, 236

North End, Boston, 9

Northampton, Mass., 236

Notes of obligation, use of, 11

Nova Scotia. 4–5

Oaks, 259–260; of the “red” group, 259; of the “white” group, 260

Ogee curve, in bombé, 143

Old Manse, The, 125

Oliver, Andrew, xiv, 26

Oliver, Mrs. Andrew, portrait of, 42, fig. 31 (43)

Orient, influence of, 49

Ornemens Inventez par J. Berain, 164

Orrery, vii, fig. 5 (x)

Osgood family, 194

Overdoor detail, fig. 111 (163)

Paddock, Adino, 5

Parkman, Rebecca, 90

Parkman, William, 90

Parsons, Sarah, 100

Partridge, Nehemiah, 72

Patrons of cabinetmakers: merchants as, 5–9; J. Loring, 54; Cushing family, 95, 97; Josiah Quincy, 128, 131, 134; Derby family, 140; Charles Apthorp, 150; Hancock family, 176; Caleb Davis, 176; owners of bombé, 196

Pedestals, baroque, 160

Pediments, carved, 108; on Cogswell casepieces, fig. 143 (206)

Pendleton, Roger, 72

Pepperrell, Sir William, 190, 196

Perkins, Henry, 5

Perkins family, 11

Philadelphia, 137; craftsmen in, 4; Boston furniture exported to, 5

Phillips, Abigail, 190

Pickman family, 63

Pier table, with mask-carved knees, viii, fig. 3 (ix)

Pillars and balls, 15, fig. 11 (16)

Pimm, John, 54, fig. 37 (55)

Pitts, Elizabeth, 66

Plymouth, Mass., 137

Plympton, Sylvanus, 157, 160

Pope, Joseph, orrery by, viii, fig. 5 (x)

Porous wood timbers, 255–262

Portsmouth, N.H., 47, 72

Price, William, 60, 73

Prices: for labor, 23; for carving, 215; of pieces by Frothingham, 245–247; of cabinet woods, 251

Prince, James, 199

Providence, R.I., 242

“Quahog school,” 195

Quakers, 120

Queen Anne style: introduction of, 42, 48; Boston fashion for, 77; and bombé, 172

Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713), 4

Quincy, Edmund, 28

Quincy, Eliza Susan, 126, 128

Quincy, Josiah, 196; desk and bookcase for, 80, 81, 126, 128, fig. 91 (132), 131; portrait by Copley, 128, fig. 92 (134)

Quincy, Josiah, Jr., 190

Randall, Richard, vii, x, 223–249

Randle, William, 11, 15, 18, 21, 50, 72

Rea, Daniel, Jr., 72

Reed, John, 28

Red cedar, 252

Redwood, Abraham, 118

Regional characteristics, 89–90

Revere, Paul, cann by, fig. 100 (147)

Rhode Island, 89

Richards, Nathaniel, 224, 226

Ridgway, Samuel, 9

Robbins family, 30

Roberts, Joshua, 72, 73

Robinson, George, 213

Rococo carving, 173

Roentgen, Abraham, 154, 157

Roentgen, David, 157

Rogers, George, 34

Rosier, Robert, 125

Round seat, 42, 48

Roxbury, Mass., xvi, 9

Rust, Henry, 122, 131, fig. 84 (121); maker of bombé, 193

“S. F,” xii, fig. 7 (xiii)

Sack, Albert, xiv

Sack, Israel, Inc., xiv, 202, 204, fig. 147 (212)

Salem, xii, 47; blockfront furniture made in, 79, 89, 108; Watson of, 111; influence of Newport on, 120; desk by Rust, 122, fig. 84 (121); Waters desk and bookcase, 122, fig. 86 (123); other desks and bookcases, fig. 87 (124), fig. 88 (127), fig. 89 (129); bombé furniture from, 137, 193–195, fig. 136 (192), fig. 137 (193), fig. 138 (194); Hepplewhite made in, 242

Salisbury, Elizabeth, 178

Saltar, Gordon, xin, 251–264

Sanderson, Robert, 145; caudle cup by, fig. 99 (146)

Sandwich, Mass., 120

Saunders, David, 37

Saunders, Sarah, 37

Savery, William, 223

Seal skins for leather upholstery, 39

Secretary, by Vile, 158, fig. 109 (161)

Serpentine fronts, 173

Settee, fig. 145 (209)

Shelburne Museum, 51

Shells: as decoration, 18, 19, 21, fig. 16 (21), fig. 17 (22); in Newport blockfronts, 81, fig. 51 (82)

Sheraton, Thomas, 15, 17

Sherburne, Thomas, 9, 14, 95; A. Skillin apprenticed to, 221

Shipbuilding, and the furniture industry, 4

Ship carving, 213, 215, 221

Shippen, Edward, 26

Shipton, Clifford, xiv–xv

Sideboard, by Frothingham, 244–245, fig. 172 (249)

Side chairs, 40, fig. 29 (40), fig. 32 (44), fig. 33 (45), fig. 34 (46); japanned, fig. 48 (68); by N. Tracy, fig. 144 (207); types of splats in, 208–209, fig. 146 (211), fig. 147 (212), fig. 149 (216), fig. 150 (217), fig. 151 (218), fig. 152 (219), fig. 153 (220); English, fig. 148 (214); by Frothingham, fig. 171 (246); Hepplewhite, 242–243, fig. 171 (246)

Singleton, Esther, 140

Skillin, John, 199

Skillin, Simeon, 199, 221–222

Skillin family, 125, fig. 87 (124)

Smibert, John, 42, fig. 31 (43)

Society of Upholsterers and Cabinetmakers of London, 158

South End, Boston, 9

Spear, David, 197–198

Spiral supports, of Boston bombé, 173, fig. 122 (174), fig. 123 (175)

Splats, chairs grouped by, 208–209; a, 208, 210, fig. 149 (216), fig. 150 (217); b, 208, 210, fig. 151 (218); c, 209, 210, fig. 152 (219); d, 209, fig. 153 (220)

Sprage, D., xii, 140, 248; desk and bookcase by Frothingham and, fig. 97 (142), fig. 162 (234), 235

Stalker and Parker, A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing, 57

Steams, William, 247

Stiles, Ezra, 120

Stinehour, Roderick D., xv

Stoneman, Vernon, vii

String inlay, 20

Swan, Daniel, 15

Swan, James, 220

Swan, Mabel, v

Swift, Jonathan, 133, 135

Tabernacles, baroque, 160

Tables, 16, fig. 13 (18). See also Card tables; Dining table; Dressing tables; Pier table; Tea tables

Tall case clocks, fig. 11 (16), 51, fig. 36 (53), 54; Chippendale, fig. 98 (145)

Tea caddy, bombé, 190, fig. 134 (190)

Tea chest, by Johnson, 23

Tea tables: turret top, 137, fig. 94 (138); Dutch, 152, fig. 104 (154)

Textiles: import of, 27, 32; style of, 34

Thayer, Ziphion, 5

Thomas, Elias, 15

Thomaston, Maine, 247

Tibbits family, 41

Toms Foundation, 243

Townsend, Jeremiah, 93

Townsend, John, 223, 225; chest of drawers by, fig. 49 (80); desk, fig. 82 (118)

Tracy, Nathaniel, 199, 207

Trade cards: of Samuel Grant, 32, fig. 24 (33); of Thomas Johnston, 50, 54

Treadwell, Nathaniel, 109, 131, fig. 74 (106)

Trianon, bombé commodes for, 163, fig. 112 (164)

“Tulip-shape” in silver, 145

Turners, 3; employed by Holmes, 15

Underwood, John, 15

Upholstering, of group of chairs, 206

Upholsterers, 3, 24–47; importance of, 47

Valance, bed, 28–32, fig. 20 (28), fig. 27 (37)

Vassall family, 196

Vassall-Longfellow House, 190

Veneering, 24

Versailles, overdoor detail from, 162, fig. 111 (163)

Victoria and Albert Museum, 133, fig. 93 (135)

Vile, William, 158, fig. 109 (161), 165

Vincent, Gilbert T., vii, viii, 137–196

Virginia, 131

Waghorne, John, 72

Wagstaff, Thomas, 57

Waldron, Chapman, 15

Wall brackets, 20

Walton, John S., Inc., 107

Warham, Charles, 12

Warner, Jonathan, 66

Wasgatt family, 112, 131

Washington, George, 190

Watering, 39

Waters, Joseph, 122

Waters family, 192, 194

Watson, Abraham, 109, 131, fig. 76 (110)

Waving, 39

Webber, Mary, 13

Welch, Elizabeth, 11

Welch, John, 213, 215

Wendell, Jacob, 33, 34

Wendell, John, 33, 34

West Indies, 5; source of blockfronted pieces, 93; mahogany from, 252

Wheeler, Samuel, 9

White pine, 253

Whitehill, Walter Muir, vii

Whiting, Stephen, 65, 72

Whiting, Stephen, Jr., 72

Windsor, Conn., painted furniture from, 69

Windsor chairs, 243–244

Winterthur Museum, xiv; high chest, 54, fig. 37 (55), 57; bombé chest, 194, fig. 136 (192); armchair, 202, 204, fig. 148 (214); side chairs, 208, 210; work of Frothingham in, 225, fig. 154 (224), fig. 155 (227), fig. 156 (228), fig. 158 (230)

Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, vi

Winthrop, Robert C, 65

Winthrop family, 115, 116

Wiscasset, Maine, 236

Wood, kinds of, 254–262; in Boston bombé casepieces, 169, 196; in Frothingham casepieces, 226, 248; mahogany, 251, 252; black walnut, 251, 252; red cedar, 252; cherry, 253; maple, 253; white pine, 253; conifer timbers, 254–255; porous wood timbers, 255–262; annotated bibliography on, 263–264

Wood, Thomas, 143

Wood, William, 251

Woodward, Richard, 14, 19, 22; bureau table by, 20, fig. 18 (23); charges by, 23

Worsteds, 34–39

Yale University: side chair owned by, 202, armchair, 202, fig. 141 (203)

Yehia, Mary Ellen, vii, viii, xiv, 197–222

HAEC OLIM MEMINISSE JUVABIT

This book has been set in type at

The Stinehour Press & printed at

The Meriden Gravure Company

and bound by The New Hampshire

Bindery

1. Major regional studies are in chronological order by state: The Decorative Arts of New Hampshire 1725–1825 (Manchester, New Hampshire, 1964); The Decorative Arts of New Hampshire: A Sesquicentennial Exhibition (Concord, New Hampshire, 1973); Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., The Arts and Crafts of Newport, Rhode Island, 1640–1820 (Newport, Rhode Island, 1954); The John Brown House Loan Exhibition of Rhode Island Furniture (Providence, Rhode Island, 1965); Three Centuries of Connecticut Furniture 1635–1935 (Hartford, Connecticut, 1935); Connecticut Furniture, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Hartford, Connecticut, 1967); Joseph Downs and Ruth Ralston, A Loan Exhibition of New York State Furniture (New York, 1934); V. Isabelle Miller, Furniture by New York Cabinetmakers, 1650–1860 (New York, 1956); New York Furniture before 1840 in the Collection of the Albany Institute of History and Art (Albany, 1962); Margaret E. White, Early Furniture Made in New Jersey, 1690–1870 (Newark, New Jersey, 1958); William M. Hornor, Jr., Blue Book, Philadelphia Furniture: William Penn to George Washington (Philadelphia, 1935); Baltimore Furniture: The Work of Baltimore and Annapolis Cabinetmakers from 1760 to 1810 (Baltimore, 1947); William Voss Elder iii, Maryland Queen Anne and Chippendale Furniture of the Eighteenth Century (Baltimore, 1968); E. Milby Burton, Charleston Furniture, 1700–1825 (Charleston, South Carolina, 1955).

2. Mabel Munson Swan wrote numerous articles on New England furniture of the eighteenth century. Her most important study of Boston is a two-part article entitled “Boston’s Carvers and Joiners,” Antiques, lii (March and April, 1948), 198–201, 281–285. Other material by Mabel Swan is cited in a bibliography at the end of this volume.

3. While Richard Randall has several outstanding articles to his credit (see the bibliography), his best-known work is American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1965). This catalogue includes well-documented pieces of Boston furniture made throughout the century. Benno Forman and Vernon Stoneman have contributed specific studies on furniture produced at the beginning and end of the century, respectively. See Benno M. Forman, “Urban Aspects of Massachusetts Furniture in the Late Seventeenth Century,” Winterthur Conference Report 1969: Country Cabinetwork and Simple City Furniture (Charlottesville, Virginia, 1970); Vernon C. Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour, Cabinetmakers in Boston, 1794–1816 (Boston, 1959) and A Supplement to John and Thomas Seymour, Cabinetmakers in Boston, 1794–1816 (Boston, 1966).

4. Gordon Saltar who spoke on wood analysis as an aid to the study of New England furniture submitted the most useful portions of his highly specialized paper for publication: a list of New England cabinet woods and an annotated bibliography on the identification of woods.

5. A side chair and lolling chair in the Winterthur Museum bear the stamps of Stephen Badlam, a cabinetmaker of Dorchester, and the unidentified S. F. Charles Montgomery speculated that S. F. may have been the initials of a Boston journeyman working for Badlam during the 1790s. A likely candidate is Samuel Fisk, a Boston cabinetmaker who died in 1797. Charles F. Montgomery, American Furniture, the Federal Period in the Henry Francis du Font Winterthur Museum (New York, 1966), nos. 30, 110.

6. Some Cursory Remarks Made by James Birket in his Voyage to North America 1750–1751, ed. Charles M. Andrews (New Haven, 1916), p. 24.

7. In this paper no distinction is made between joiners known to have made furniture and cabinetmakers. For more information on the use of the two terms in colonial Boston, see Benno M. Forman, “Urban Aspects of Massachusetts Furniture in the Late Seventeenth Century,” Winterthur Conference Report 1969: Country Cabinetwork and Simple City Furniture (Charlottesville, Virginia, 1970), pp. 17–20.

8. An appendix at the back of this volume includes these workmen in a list of furniture craftsmen active in Boston during the eighteenth century. For comparable statistics for Philadelphia, see Arthur W. Leibundguth, “The Furniture-Making Crafts in Philadelphia, c. 1730–1760” (unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1964), pp. 132–136.

9. Bernard and Lotte Bailyn, Massachusetts Shipping, 1697–1714: A Statistical Study (Cambridge, 1959), pp. 42–47, 49–50, 74–76; Wesley Frank Craven, The Colonies in Transition 1660–1713 (New York, 1968), pp. 307–310.

10. Thomas Hancock, Daybook, May 27 and December 29, 1738 (Baker Library, Harvard University).

11. Suffolk County Inferior Court of Common Pleas, Boston, Massachusetts, December 21, 1741 (hereafter Suffolk Common Pleas).

12. Ibid., January 18, 1750.

13. For example, see Peter Faneuil, Daybook, May 11, 1732, p. 389 (Baker Library, Harvard University).

14. Quoted in Richard H. Randall, Jr., “Boston Chairs,” Old-Time New England, liv (Summer, 1963), 12–13.

15. Ebenezer Call to William Call, Philadelphia, January 15, 1762, Gratz Papers (The Historical Society of Pennsylvania [photostat copy, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum Libraries, Joseph Downs Manuscript Collection]).

16. Samuel Abbot, Account Book, 1754–1808, pp. 21–22, 41–42 (Baker Library, Harvard University).

17. It is possible that these chairs may also have been of Boston origin, since the term “Philadelphia chair” was a generic one for any type of Windsor chair.

18. In this context, “Laced” could either mean “diversified with streaks of color” (A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 10 vols. [Oxford, 1905], vi, part i, 11) or be an abbreviation for “lacquered.”

19. See accounts between Henchman and William Downe, a Boston upholsterer, xv, Domestic Bills, January 24, 1743, Hancock Papers (Baker Library, Harvard University). See also accounts between Bond and Thomas Gibbons and Lanier Kenn, two cabinetmakers in partnership, Suffolk Common Pleas, December 15, 1733.

20. For complete documentation on the shop locations of Boston’s furniture craftsmen, see Brock Jobe, “The Boston Furniture Industry 1725–1760” (unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1975).

21. James A. Henretta, “Economic Development and Social Structure in Colonial Boston,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., xxii (January, 1965), 81–88.

22. Suffolk County Superior Court of General Sessions, Boston, Massachusetts, docket 21711.

23. Thomas B. Wyman, The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, 2 vols. (Boston, 1879), i, 381–395.

24. The only records documenting immigration into Boston between 1700 and 1760 are ship impost records for the years 1715 and 1716. These incomplete records list the names of eight newly arrived joiners and cabinetmakers from London, Bristol, Ireland, Barbados, Long Island, and North Carolina. Obviously, many others ventured to Boston, but unfortunately their names rarely appear in town records. A Volume of Records Relating to the Early History of Boston Containing Miscellaneous Papers, xxix (Boston, 1900), 229–242 (hereafter Miscellaneous Papers).

25. Andrew Burnaby, Travels Through the Middle Settlements in North-America in the Years 1759 and 1760, 2nd ed. (1775; rpt. Ithaca, New York, 1960), pp. 103–104. For information on the decline in trade, see Carl Bridenbaugh, Cities in the Wilderness (1938; rpt. Oxford, 1971), pp. 303, 330–336.

26. E. Milby Burton, Charleston Furniture 1700–1825 (Charleston, 1955), p. 127.

27. Warham purchased goods from Samuel Gardner, a Boston shopkeeper, on October 9, 1724. See Suffolk Common Pleas, December 14, 1730.

28. Ibid., March 22, 1731, August 28, 1732.

29. Ibid., March 3, 1733.

30. Quoted in Burton, Charleston, p. 126.

31. Ibid., pp. 126–127.

32. For information pertaining to Holmes’s life, see George Arthur Gray, The Descendants of George Holmes of Roxbury 1594–1908 (Boston, 1908), pp. 16, 28–30.

33. Miscellaneous Papers, p. 223.

34. Thomas Atkins to Nathaniel Holmes, Boston, viii, Bills, March 16, 1748, Bourn Papers (Baker Library, Harvard University).

35. The inventory totalled £3885:0:3. Suffolk County Registry of Probate, Boston, Massachusetts, docket 15727 (hereafter Suffolk Probate Records).

36. The following information is based on accounts between Holmes and John Mudge, Jacob Burdit, and Mary Jackson, 55.523–525, 55.764.2 (Winterthur Libraries, Joseph Downs Manuscript Collection) and two folders of bills and receipts in the Bourn Papers, vi, Accounts Current 1727–1738, and viii, Bills 1728–1759 (Baker Library, Harvard University).

37. Birth records have only been found for Johnson, Mudge, Burdit, and Sherburne, all of whom were born after 1708. Woodward was called Holmes’s apprentice in 1736 and must have been in his early twenties when hired by his former master. Jeremiah Townsend to Nathaniel Holmes, Boston, vi, Accounts Current, February 1, 1739, Bourn Papers (Baker Library, Harvard University).

38. Thomas Sheraton, The Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803), plate xv.

39. John Mudge to Nathaniel Holmes, Maiden, Massachusetts, January 6, 1738, 55.524 (Winterthur Libraries, Joseph Downs Manuscript Collection).

40. A desk at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has small arched drawers above the pigeonholes and a concealed well in the desk interior. See Richard H. Randall, Jr., American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1965), fig. 55.

41. Richard Woodward to Nathaniel Holmes, Boston, vi, Accounts Current, December 12, 1737, Bourn Papers (Baker Library, Harvard University).

42. John Mudge to Nathaniel Holmes, Maiden, Massachusetts, January 6, 1738, 55.524 (Winterthur Libraries, Joseph Downs Manuscript Collection).

43. This is one of the earliest references to an American bureau table. According to Nancy Goyne Evans, the form did not become popular in New England until after 1750. Evidently Woodward constructed an elegant table, for he charged Holmes six pounds, a sum equivalent to that for a large desk. Richard Woodward to Nathaniel Holmes, Boston, vi, Accounts Current, December 12, 1737, Bourn Papers (Baker Library, Harvard University). See also Nancy Goyne Evans, “The Bureau Table in America,” Winterthur Portfolio III (Winterthur, Delaware, 1967), pp. 25–27.

44. Toes probably refer to the unusual adaptation of the Spanish foot seen on the japanned high chest made by John Pimm (fig. 37). Similar feet appear on dressing tables at Historic Deerfield and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

45. For genealogical material on Fitch, see Ezra S. Stearns, “The Descendants of Dea. Zachary Fitch of Reading,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register, lv (July, 1901), 289, 291.

46. Fitch’s immense estate was never completely settled. He owned land in forty towns in addition to all of Gallops Island. Suffolk Probate Records, docket 6868.

47. In a letter of October 20, 1725, Fitch described Grant as “my Young man,” a phrase often used for an apprentice. Thomas Fitch to Silas Hooper, Boston, Fitch Letterbook (Massachusetts Historical Society).

48. For genealogical information on Grant, see W. Henry Grant, Ancestors and Descendants of Moses Grant and Sarah Pierce (Lebanon, Pennsylvania, n.d.), pp. 3, 9–10, 12.

49. No inventory was taken of Grant’s personal property and real estate. In his will he left £466:13:4 to his grandson, John Simpkins, £400 to his granddaughter, Mary Thatcher Simpkins, and cancelled the debts owed to him by his son-in-law, John Simpkins. The remainder of the bequest went to Moses Grant. Suffolk Probate Records, docket 18314.

50. The author is aware of ten volumes which span the first seventy years of the eighteenth century. For the purposes of this paper, only portions documenting business activities between 1720 and 1740 will be considered. See Thomas Fitch, Letterbook, 1702–1711 (American Antiquarian Society); Letterbook, 1714–1717 (New England Historic Genealogical Society); Letterbook, 1723–1733 (Massachusetts Historical Society); Account Book, 1719–1732 (Massachusetts Historical Society); Account Book, 1732–1736 (Massachusetts Historical Society); Samuel Grant, Account Book, 1728–1737 (Massachusetts Historical Society); Receipt Book, 1731–1740 (The Bostonian Society); Account Book, 1737–1760 (American Antiquarian Society); Petty Ledger, 1755–1762 (Boston Public Library); Petty Ledger, 1762–1771 (Boston Public Library).

51. Thomas Fitch to Isaac DeRiemer, Boston, August 7, 1704, Fitch Letterbook (American Antiquarian Society).

52. Thomas Fitch, Account Book, May 22, 1724, p. 281 (Massachusetts Historical Society).

53. Ibid., September 11, 1725, p. 351.

54. Thomas Fitch to John East, Boston, April 6, 1725, Fitch Letterbook (Massachusetts Historical Society).

55. Ibid., December 8, 1731.

56. Ibid., Thomas Fitch to Silas Hooper, Boston, December 15, 1725.

57. Ibid.

58. Florence M. Montgomery, Printed Textiles: English and American Cottons and Linens 1700–1850 (New York, 1970), pp. 49, 55–56.

59. The upholsterer was John East. See Samuel Grant, Account Book, April 11, 1735, p. 383 (Massachusetts Historical Society). The chairmaker was Edmund Perkins. See Thomas Fitch, Account Book, January 15, 1725, p. 312 (Massachusetts Historical Society); Samuel Grant, Account Book, February 12, 1730, p. 35 (Massachusetts Historical Society).

60. Samuel Grant, Account Book, February 4, 1732, p. 132 (Massachusetts Historical Society).

61. Ibid., July 12, 1731, p. 106.

62. Ibid., July 19, 1737, p. 590.

63. Harrateen had been in limited use in Boston from at least 1726. Thomas Fitch commented on the new fabric in that year, when he wrote to a patron in New York: “I concluded it would be difficult to get Such a Calliminco as you proposed to Cover the Ease Chair, and haveing a very Strong thick Harratine which is vastly more fashionable and handsome than a Calliminco I have sent you an Ease Chair Cover’d w[i]th sd Harrateen w[hi]ch I hope will Sute You.” Thomas Fitch to Madam Hooglant, Boston, March 9, 1726, Fitch Letterbook (Massachusetts Historical Society).

64. Abbott Lowell Cummings, Bed Hangings: A Treatise on Fabrics and Styles in the Curtaining of Beds 1650–1850 (Portland, Maine, 1961), p. 18.

65. Thomas Fitch to Colonel Coddington, Boston, June 26, 1727, Fitch Letterbook (Massachusetts Historical Society).

66. Thomas Fitch, Account Book, May 4, 1720, p. 84 (Massachusetts Historical Society).

67. Samuel Grant, Account Book, October 14, 1729, p. 29 (Massachusetts Historical Society).

68. Ibid., November 21, 1730, p. 65.

69. This notch is often seen on Boston furniture of the Queen Anne style. See, for example, a japanned high chest in the collection of the New Haven Colony Historical Society. Elizabeth Rhoades and Brock Jobe, “Recent Discoveries in Boston Japanned Furniture,” Antiques, cv (May, 1974), 1082–1091.

70. Samuel Grant, Account Book, January 22, 1732, p. 131 (Massachusetts Historical Society).

71. Ibid., April 29, 1732, p. 146.

72. Gertrude Z. Thomas, “Lacquer: Chinese, Indian, ‘Right’ Japan, and American,” Antiques, lxxix (June, 1961), 572–575. For information on Boston japanning, see Joseph Downs, “American Japanned Furniture,” Old-Time New England, xxviii (October, 1937), 61–67; Esther Stevens Brazer, “The Early Boston Japanners,” Antiques, xliii (May, 1943), 208–211; Richard H. Randall, Jr., American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1965), pp. 66–68; Dean A. Fales, Jr., American Painted Furniture 1660–1880 (New York, 1972), pp. 58–69; and Sinclair Hitchings, “Thomas Johnston,” Boston Prints and Printmakers 1670–1775, Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Publications, xlvi (1973), 83–131.

73. Ralph Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture (London, 1964), pp. 327–331.

74. Illustrated in “Benjamin Bagnall of Boston, Clockmaker,” Old-Time New England, xxvi (July, 1935), 31; and Harvard Tercentenary Exhibition (Cambridge, 1936), no. 257, pl. 46.

75. This high chest was brought to my attention after completion of the article. Richard H. Randall, Jr., discusses and illustrates the chest in “William Randall, Boston Japanner,” Antiques, cv (May, 1974), 1127–1131.

76. Two signatures appear on one of the drawer dividers in the upper section. The featured one is “Robert Davis” and the other, in smaller script, appears to be “Re. Damini.” The initials “W R,” possibly those of William Randle, another Boston japanner, also appear on a drawer of the chest. This information was kindly provided by Brock Jobe. See Elizabeth Rhoades and Brock Jobe, “Recent Discoveries in Boston Japanned Furniture,” Antiques, cv (May, 1974), 1082–1091.

77. For more information on Brown and a copy of the advertisement, see David Hansen, “Gawen Brown, Soldier and Clockmaker,” Old-Time New England, xxx (July, 1939), 1–9.

78. See Helen Comstock, American Furniture (New York, 1962), fig. 187. The date 1766 on the Ford example appears to have been added to the nameplate, and the clock is probably earlier than this date—perhaps before 1752 when Brown had moved to King Street.

79. See Esther Stevens Fraser, “A Pedigreed Lacquered Highboy,” Antiques, xv (May, 1929), 398–401; and Joseph Downs, American Furniture, Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods in the Henry Francis du Font Winterthur Museum (New York, 1952), no. 188.

80. Other works include The Ladies Amusement, or Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy (London, n.d., c. 1760); and George Edwards and Mathias Darly, New Book of Chinese Designs (London, 1754).

81. For japanned English clocks with Boston-area histories, see Antiques, xliii (May, 1943), 209; Martha Gandy Fales, “Thomas Wagstaffe, London Quaker Clockmaker,” The Connoisseur, cli (November, 1962), 198–201; and Wallace Nutting, The Clock Book (Framingham, Massachusetts, 1924), fig. 80.

82. Thomas Johnston’s trade card is reproduced in Hitchings, “Thomas Johnston,” p. 87.

83. A good description of the earlier and later methods of japanning is found in [Thomas Dobson, comp.], Encyclopaedia; Or A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature (Philadelphia, 1798), ix, 72–76. For a later example with a Boston history, see Antiques, lxxxi (April, 1962), 346.

84. Comstock, American Furniture, fig. 174.

85. See Lawrence Shaw Mayo, The Winthrop Family in America (Boston, 1948); Frank Augustine Gardner, Gardner Memorial (Salem, 1933).

86. See Fales, American Painted Furniture, pp. 36–38; 62.

87. For more information on Johnston, see Sinclair Hitchings, “Thomas Johnston,” Boston Prints and Printmakers 1670–1775, Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Publications, xlvi (1973), 83–131.

88. For information on Pendleton, see Suffolk County Registry of Probate, Boston, Massachusetts, docket 3380; The Diary of Samuel Sewall, Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 5th ser., vi (1879), 333. For Hughes, see the 1726 volume of the records of the Suffolk County Inferior Court of Common Pleas, Boston, Massachusetts, pp. 45, 171. For references to Gore as a japanner, see Suffolk County Registry of Deeds, Boston, Massachusetts, lxxiv, 173–174, 200. See also George Francis Dow, The Arts and Crafts in New England 1704–1775 (1927; rpt. New York, 1967), pp. 239–243; William Whitmore, A Brief Genealogy of the Gore Family Especially in the Line of Gov. Christopher Gore (Boston, 1875), pp. 5–6.

89. Various details are quoted, for instance, in Mabel M. Swan’s article, “The Johnstons and the Reas—Japanners,” Antiques, xliii (May, 1943), 211–213.

90. Andrew Burnaby, Travels Through the Middle Settlements in North-America in the Years 1759 and 1760, 2nd ed. (1775: rpt. Ithaca, New York, 1960), p. 101.

91. Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield, 4 vols. (Cambridge, 1961), i, 294.

92. William Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty, ed. Joseph Burke (Oxford, 1955), p. 65. First published in 1753.

93. “Ogee” (or “OG”), according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a term of obscure derivation which was defined in eighteenth-century England as “a Moulding, somewhat resembling an S” (T.N. City and C. Purchaser), or more generally “Any curve or line having this form.”

94. In Newport cabinetmaker John Cahoone’s account book (Newport Historical Society), it appears from the prices paid for such items as “a mahogany OG Case of Draws” (mentioned on p. 38, 1754, and on p. 83, 1759)—being as much as half again as much as items listed as “a mahogany case of drawers”—they must have been singular in more than the moldings used. An oxbow or breasted front might be equally described by the general term “OG” but the blockfront, being by far the most common at that time, is more likely. No labelled furniture is known from the workshop of Cahoone or from those of the cabinetmakers employed by him. Another term which may have been used to describe the blockfront is “swell’d.” In a letter of 1763 (quoted by R. Peter Mooz, in “The Origins of Newport Block-Front Furniture Design,” Antiques, xcix [June, 1971], 882), John Goddard of Newport writes to a patron: “there is a sort which is called a Chest on Chest of Drawers & Sweld. front which are Costly as well as ornimental. . . .” Similarly, Thomas Wood of Charlestown, Massachusetts, used this term in his 1776 claim for restitution of property damaged by the British: “Three swell front Desks” (Mabel M. Swan, “Furnituremakers of Charlestown,” Antiques, xlvi [October, 1944], 204). Although “blocked” is the usual modern term applied to these facades, other terms have been applied. For instance, Percy Macquoid in his History of English Furniture, 4 vols. (London, 1906), iii, 49–52, figs. 39, 40, speaks of a (probably Boston) desk with “tubbed and recessed surfaces.”

95. The labelled John Townsend desk (Israel Sack, Inc., New York), the labelled Edmund Townsend kneehole bureau (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and flat-façaded chests of drawers signed by Constant Bailey (in a private collection, North Carolina) and Benjamin Baker (Newport Restoration Foundation) all display this characteristic.

96. A blockfront desk with a history of ownership in Delaware, and probable manufacture in that state, is at Colonial Williamsburg. Although unorthodox in many of its details, the case construction is similar to that used in Newport.

97. Secondary woods are typically white pine for Boston, and chestnut or tulip wood for Newport. Newporters also generally favored a lighter tone to the mahogany in their facades. James Birket in Some Cursory Remarks Made . . . in his Voyage to North America 1750–1751, ed. Charles M. Andrews (New Haven, 1916), p. 24, noted of Boston in 1750, “but now their woods are very much Cut down and destroy’d and what they have is brought along way by land Carriage.” It seems reasonable to assume that the omnipresent white pine in Boston is a matter of choice as much as of convenience.

98. See Nancy Goyne Evans, “The Genealogy of a Bookcase Desk,” Winterthur Portfolio 9 (Charlottesville, Virginia, 1974), pp. 213–222.

99. Job Coit, Sr., was born in 1692, and is known to have been working in Boston by 1718. His business was located on Ann Street in 1731, and he died in 1742.

100. It has been thought that the West Indies in general, and Havana in particular, were a source for baroque-inspired blockfronted pieces in North America. Wendell Garrett, “Speculations on the Rhode Island Block-Front in 1928,” Antiques, xcix (June, 1971), 887–891. There are other closer and earlier precedents than the Havana cathedral furniture, but the idea might well have migrated from Europe via the West Indies as easily as via Great Britain.

101. Charles Townsend, 1375 to 1897: The Direct Ancestry and Posterity of Judge Charles Townsend, A Pioneer of Buffalo, New York (Orange, New Jersey, 1897), p. 29; Charles Townsend Rich, Genealogy of the Townsend Family (Buffalo, 1877), p. 17.

102. Jeremiah must have known Rebecca before she was widowed, as he removed from Boston to New Haven in 1739 and she was not widowed until 1745.

103. The Newport Townsends spring from a triumvirate of brothers, John, Henry, and Richard, of Norfolk, England; the Boston Townsends trace their lineage to Thomas of Gedding, Suffolk.

104. Ingraham still owned property in Boston until 1752. See the settlement of the estate of Lydia Coit, Suffolk County Registry of Probate, Boston, Massachusetts, docket 9797 (hereafter Suffolk Probate Records).

105. The former is on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the latter is at Historic Deerfield.

106. See the frontispiece of Antiques, lxxxvi (October, 1964), 430–431; also Mooz, “Origins of Newport Block-Front Furniture Design,” pp. 882–886. The men who are known to have made blockfronts, John Townsend, Edmund Townsend, and probably John Goddard, were not born until 1733, 1736, and 1724, respectively. There is no evidence that the older generation, Christopher and Job Townsend, made blockfronts.

107. The drawer construction and protruding drawer dividers are unusual but not unknown in Boston. The distinctive solution to the problem of joining the walnut frame to the secondary wood on the case bottom is not used in other examples known to the author.

108. Thomas Cushing, Jr., Waste Book, September 8, 1739 (Baker Library, Harvard University).

109. Pegs anchoring a mortise and tenon joint are uncommon at this date (c. 1740) in an urban area and a Queen Anne design.

110. 63 × 69 (Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum Libraries, Joseph Downs Manuscript Collection).

111. There is a small group of related examples. See Frances Clary Morse, Furniture of the Olden Times, 2nd ed. (New York, 1917), p. 34. A high chest illustrated in Antiques, c (July, 1971), 13, has similar decorative motifs.

112. There is, however, one reference to a Joseph Davis in 1742 who is paid five shillings by Katherine Davis, widow and executrix of James Davis, a blockmaker of Boston. This list of disbursements also includes three pounds paid to Job Coit for a coffin. Suffolk Probate Records, docket 6911.

113. There is an unblocked Boston desk and bookcase at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (figs. 70 and 71), roughly contemporary with the Coit-Davis products, which possibly shows the very finest of contemporary cabinetwork—that which served as their model. Several design motifs which are executed here are abbreviated by Coit and Davis: the inlaid stars (in the M.F.A. desk, in tricolor and two parts; in the Davis, simplified), the fans above the bookcase section (in the M.F.A. desk, carved in undulating three dimensions; in the Coit, flattened in inlay), the scribe line around the bonnet (in the M.F.A. desk, in two-color inlay; in the Coit, a simple incised line), the amphitheater desk interior (greatly simplified in the Coit), and the round-capped recessed interior blocking (in the M.F.A. desk, a minor feature; in the Coit, the central feature).

114. They are owned by Yale, Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., New York, and John S. Walton, Inc., New York. They are made of mahogany or walnut with unusual secondary woods: the Ginsburg and Levy interior is red cedar, Yale’s is white oak and chestnut. Walton’s has the usual white pine, but lacks the doors over the upper set of drawers. The Ginsburg and Levy chest has mirrored doors, a drop below the bottom front, and a molding between the top and bottom halves; the other two lack these additions. A similar example with inlaid stars, side columns, and a bonnet top is owned by the Henry Ford Museum.

115. “It is thought by the family that this piece was made for Dr. John Sprague of Dedham, and it is known to have descended in the Swett and Green families. Samuel Swett, of Boston, married Elizabeth Sprague in 1800.” Letter to the author from Hazel Kimball of John Walton, Inc., March 2, 1973.

116. As the chest-on-chests in this form are approximately of the same vintage, the link between the makers is more likely to be a matter of style distribution than of apprenticeship.

117. There were three cabinetmakers of this name, living respectively 1708–1765, 1734–1809, and 1774–1832. The label on this chest is that of the second of the name. See Thomas B. Wyman, The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, 2 vols. (Boston, 1879), i, 381–395.

118. According to a checklist of cabinetmakers in the American Decorative Arts Department, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Treadwell was working in Beverly in 1799.

119. Stamping, although known in France, is uncommon in America until the late eighteenth century when it was used by French emigré cabinetmakers and Windsor chairmakers to identify their widely distributed wares.

120. Watson was working between 1737 and 1762 and possibly to 1790. See Dean A. Fales, Jr., Essex County Furniture: Documented Treasures from Local Collections 1660–1860 (Salem, Massachusetts, 1965), fig. 44; Benno M. Forman, “Salem Tradesmen and Craftsmen Circa 1762: A Contemporary Document,” Essex Institute Historical Collections, cvii (January, 1971), 65, 73.

121. Samuel Chamberlain, Salem Interiors: Two Centuries of New England Taste and Decoration (New York, 1950), p. 85; Fales, Essex County Furniture, fig. 44.

122. Richard H. Randall, Jr., American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1965), fig. 41.

123. A blockfront chest-on-chest signed by Nathan Bowen of Marblehead and dated 1774 fits into this period as well. See Richard H. Randall, Jr., “An Eighteenth Century Partnership,” The Art Quarterly, xxiii (Summer, 1960), 153–161.

124. Another of the many examples of this form is to be found in the Bennington Museum, Bennington, Vermont.

125. It bears the names “E. Wasgatt,” “Sarah Hayes Wasgatt,” and “Mary Wasgatt.” They were the daughters of Thomas Wasgatt of Maine; “E. Wasgatt,” Eunice, married David Bradstreet of Mount Desert in 1792, so this desk must predate that marriage. It is now in the Garvan Collection at Yale.

126. The fall front and central interior fan-carved door are new, the bottom of the case has been replaced in part (the front four inches are new). The brasses have been changed twice.

127. This desk differs in construction with a high chest signed by Frothingham in the Winterthur Museum. See, in particular, the dovetails and drawer runners—the latter in the Deerfield desk have vertical insets, a very unusual feature.

128. In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is a desk almost identical in form and construction.

129. William Claggett, clockmaker, moved from Boston to Newport in 1726. James Franklin, the brother of Benjamin Franklin, moved his printing business to Newport in 1727. Samuel Casey, a silversmith of Rhode Island, served his apprenticeship in Boston and set up shop outside Newport about 1750, to mention a few examples.

130. Godfrey Malbone and the Deblois family maintained large commercial establishments in both cities.

131. Abraham Redwood, Letterbook, iii, 7 (Newport Historical Society). See also William Ellery, Daybook, 1737, folio 72 (Newport Historical Society): “Father Almy [kin to Townsend cabinetmakers] to 1 barrell of Loaf sugar bought for you in Boston by Greenleaf £28:3:8; to a Try ton painting & carting £13: 15:6.”

132. Ezra Stiles, Miscellany, 1758–1762, p. 339, undated entry probably 1762 (Beinecke Library, Yale University). Several accounts, such as those found in the Jonathan (?) Marsh Account Book (Newport Historical Society)—where notations for 1754, 1755, and 1764 suggest that the scope of the Newport meeting was enlarged to include delegates from the Jerseys, Philadelphia, and England—attest to the accuracy of Stiles’s report.

133. The signature on this piece is a gouged “H x Rust” on the bottom of the case—an unusual but not implausible means of identification (fig. 85).

134. In the registrar’s files at the Winterthur Museum there is a photograph of this desk (c. 1870) with the captions: “Great Grandfather Joseph Waters’s Desk: sold by Sarah W.” and “From Cousin Fitz. Photo of Great Grandfather Waters’s Desk and Bookcase. Molly Mott leaning against it, Waters’ House, Washington Square [Salem].” See Joseph Downs, American Furniture, Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods in the Henry Francis du Font Winterthur Museum (New York, 1952), no. 225.

135. It bears the inscription “William H. Allen,” probably a nineteenth-century owner of the desk.

136. According to The Centennial of the Social Circle in Concord (Cambridge, 1882), p. 114, Joseph Hosmer’s father, James, “purchased . . . the farm belonging to Joseph Shevally, a Frenchman, who married his cousin Sarah Hosmer. . . . Robert Rosier, a Frenchman, married Mary Chevally, and lived near the bridge. . . . He was a very excellent cabinetmaker, and Major Hosmer learned his trade from him.”

137. Cited (no source given) in a letter to the author from Amelia F. Emerson, March, 1972.

138. See Kenneth Scott and Russell H. Kettell, “Joseph Hosmer, Cabinetmaker,” Antiques, lxxiii (April, 1958), 356–359.

139. The Memorial History of Boston, ed. Justin Winsor, 4 vols. (Boston, 1881), ii, 121–122 fn.

140. Eliza Susan Quincy, “Memoir,” i, 54 (Massachusetts Historical Society).

141. Josiah Quincy’s inventory of 1784 includes “1 Chest of old fineered Draws 24 [shillings],” and “1 Japan Chest Draws 36 [shillings].” The japanned chest is still in the house. Suffolk Probate Records, docket 18158.

142. “List of Pictures and Furniture etc. in the House built 1770 in 1879, by Eliza Susan Quincy,” pp. 32–33 (current location unknown [photostat copy, Winterthur Libraries, Joseph Downs Manuscript Collection]).

143. Similar carving is found on the feet and drop of several other Boston-area blocked casepieces, including a small chest owned by Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., and the desk and bookcase illustrated in figure 83.

144. At this date, there is only one known example of American bombé furniture that probably originated from outside the Boston area, a bombé dressing table probably from New Hampshire. See Samuel Chamberlain, Salem Interiors: Two Centuries of New England Taste and Decoration (New York, 1950), p. 37.

145. Quoted in Survey of London: Spitalfields and Mile End New Town, xxvii (London, 1957) 293. Courtesy of Mr. Benno M. Forman.

146. Mabel M. Swan, “Furnituremakers of Charlestown,” Antiques, xlvi (October, 1944), 203–204.

147. Desmond Fitz-Gerald, Georgian Furniture (London, 1969), fig. 11.

148. Chippendale also imported French furniture; Edward Joy in an article in Country Life, cx (August, 1951), 569, draws attention to Chippendale’s attempt to avoid the English customs.

149. The London cabinetmaker Samuel Bennett labelled a bombé desk and bookcase (c. 1720) that is illustrated in Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 2nd ed., rev., 3 vols. (London, 1954), i, 136.

150. Suffolk County Registry of Probate, Boston, Massachusetts, docket 11871 (hereafter Suffolk Probate Records).

151. Quoted in James H. Stark, The Loyalists of Massachusetts (Boston, 1910), p. 352.

152. Joseph W. P. Frost, “Living with Antiques, Pepperrell Mansion, Kittery Point, Maine,” Antiques, lxxxix (March, 1966), 370.

153. Abbott Lowell Cummings, “The Foster-Hutchinson House,” Old-Time New England, liv (Winter, 1964), 59–76.

154. World Furniture, ed. Helena Hayward (London, 1965), p. 167.

155. Hans Huth, “Roentgens—Cabinet-Makers,” The Connoisseur, xcii (August, 1933), 85–91.

156. For an illustration of the Cade brand, see American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, 3 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1969), ii, 340. “G. CADE” may refer to George Cade (1739–1789), a Boston ropemaker, or to his son, George Cade, Jr. (before 1769–1805), also a local ropemaker. The younger Cade’s inventory included “1 Old Desk” valued at $2.00. If, in fact, Cade did own the bombé desk, then it probably passed to the Plympton family soon after his death in 1805. An inscription on the desk reads, “Augusta P. Plympton, Decr[?] 27 1830 / Formerly property of Dr. Plympton, Waban.” For further information on the Cade and Plympton families, see Suffolk Probate Records, dockets 19402, 22390; A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, Containing the Statistics of the United States’ Direct Tax of 1798, As Assessed in Boston, xxii (Boston, 1892), 72, 306, 482; John Adams Vinton, The Richardson Memorial (Portland, Maine, 1876), p. 272.

157. Quoted in Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture (New York, 1968), p. 23.

158. The IId. Edition of Genteel Household Furniture in the Present Taste with an Addition of Several Articles Never Before Executed (London, n.d.), plates xliv, xlv, lxxxviii.

159. Mario Praz, An Illustrated History of Furnishing (New York, 1964), p. 105, fig. 64.

160. For photographs of the bas-relief in the Salon de la Guerre, see André Pératé, Versailles: Le Château, Les Jardins, Les Trianons, Le Musée, La Ville (Paris, 1905), pp. 39, 41; Key Monuments of the History of Architecture, ed. Henry A. Millon (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and New York, 1964), p. 402.

161. Pierre Verlet, French Royal Furniture (London, 1963), p. 8.

162. Other examples are owned by John Walton, Inc., New York, and the Sargent-Murray-Gilman-Hough House, Gloucester, Massachusetts. See also Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury (1928; rpt. New York, 1954) figs. 3206, 3210.

163. Ethel Hall Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America (Garden City, New York, 1957), p. 49.

164. Mabel M. Swan, “Boston’s Carvers and Joiners, Part ii, Post-Revolutionary,” Antiques, liii (April, 1948), 281–285; Richard H. Randall, Jr., “George Bright, Cabinetmaker,” The Art Quarterly, xxvii (1964), 134–149.

165. M. Ada Young, “Five Secretaries and the Cogswells,” Antiques, lxxxviii (October, 1965), 484–485.

166. Joseph Downs, “John Cogswell, Cabinetmaker,” Antiques, lxi (April, 1952), 324.

167. Two heavily restored secretaries with structural features similar to the Cogswell casepieces are now in the Winterthur Museum. Both secretaries have unusual upper sections, much different in appearance from the documented Cogswell chest. However, the structural similarities in the desk sections suggest attributions to Cogswell. See figure 135 and Joseph Downs, American Furniture, Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods in the Henry Francis du Font Winterthur Museum (New York, 1952), no. 227.

168. The Gay family desk and bookcase (fig. 131), attributed to Gibbs Atkins, has slanted drawer sides; the overlapping drawer front is cut to follow the contour of the sides of the case.

169. Both secretaries also have a strong relationship with the desk and bookcase made by George Bright. Until the history of both Atkins’ and B right’s apprenticeships and their respective cabinetshops is determined, I am attributing the Gay and Atkins family desks to Gibbs Atkins.

170. Mabel M. Swan, “Furniture of the Boston Tories,” Antiques, xli (March, 1942), 187.

171. Stark, Loyalists, p. 323.

172. Another bombé desk and bookcase at the Metropolitan Museum also has a tradition of being owned by William Greenleaf. However, Greenleaf’s inventory (Bristol County Registry of Probate, Taunton, Massachusetts, xl, 173) lists only one desk and bookcase (valued at $53). The Metropolitan’s desk has no proven family history, though an extraneous letter in their files mentions that a desk was owned by William Greenleaf and lent to George Washington when he resided at the Vassall-Longfellow House in Cambridge (Daniel Greenleaf to William Pope, Quincy, Massachusetts, July 1, 1838 [American Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art]). Since the desk and bookcase at the Whaling Museum has a documented history through the Greenleaf family and since the Metropolitan’s letter of documentation is not tied directly to its desk, I feel that the Whaling Museum’s desk was probably the one owned by William Greenleaf.

173. A partial view of the desk and bookcase appears in an 1880s photograph of the left parlor of the Josiah Quincy House, Quincy, Massachusetts, on file in the library of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Boston, Massachusetts.

174. Sack, Fine Points, p. 161, bottom.

175. Antiques, lxiii (May, 1953), 385. Another Massachusetts bombé tea caddy made of mahogany and white pine is illustrated in Israel Sack, Inc., Opportunities in American Antiques, xxii (November, 1972), 43.

176. Benno M. Forman, “Salem Tradesmen and Craftsmen Circa 1762: A Contemporary Document,” Essex Institute Historical Collections, cvii (January, 1971), 81.

177. Rust was working in Salem from 1762, removed to Boston by 1773, and was located in Beverly in 1782. He later returned to Salem where he died about 1800. Henry Wyckoff Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, Massachusetts (Salem, 1927), p. 68; Forman, “Salem Tradesmen and Craftsmen,” p. 65.

178. Rust’s only dated piece of furniture is a desk which bears the inscription: “This desk Made By Henry Rust of Salem / Salem, New England / One Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy.” Sack, Opportunities, xxii (November, 1972), 28–29.

179. See also a desk illustrated by Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., Antiques, xlvi (November, 1944), 255.

180. Quoted in Richard H. Randall, Jr., “George Bright, Cabinetmaker,” The Art Quarterly, xxvii (1964), 136, 138.

181. For an illustration of the serpentine-front bombé chest, see Edwin J. Hipkiss, Eighteenth-Century American Arts, The M. and M. Karolik Collection (Cambridge, 1941), fig. 35.

182. Joseph Downs, American Furniture, Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (New York, 1952), no. 55.

183. See also F. Lewis Hinckley, Directory of the Historic Cabinet Woods (New York, 1960), pp. 120, 133.

184. Mabel M. Swan, “Boston’s Carvers and Joiners, Part i, Pre-Revolutionary,” Antiques, liii (March, 1948), 198.

185. Suffolk County Registry of Deeds, Boston, Massachusetts, xlvii, 196 (hereafter Suffolk Deeds).

186. Swan, “Boston’s Carvers and Joiners, Part i,” p. 198.

187. Suffolk Deeds, lviii, 4–6; lxvi, 194–195.

188. Quoted in Swan, “Boston’s Carvers and Joiners, Part i,” p. 199.

189. Ibid.; The Boston News-Letter, April 20, 1758; The Boston Gazette, April 24, 1758.

190. Suffolk County Registry of Probate, Boston, Massachusetts, docket 19253 (hereafter Suffolk Probate Records).

191. Ibid.

192. The Boston News-Letter, April 20, 1758; The Boston Gazette, April 24, 1758.

193. Suffolk Deeds, cxxvi, 121.

194. “Assessors’ ‘Taking Books’ of the Town of Boston, 1780,” The Bostonian Society, Publications, ix (1912), 33.

195. A Volume of Records Relating to the Early History of Boston Containing Miscellaneous Papers, xxix (Boston, 1900), 16–17.

196. Swan, “Boston’s Carvers and Joiners, Part i,” p. 199.

197. Suffolk Probate Records, docket 23075.

198. Leroy L. Thwing, “The Four Carving Skillins,” Antiques, xxxiii (June, 1938), 327.

199. Suffolk Deeds, xxxiv, 112–113.

200. Suffolk Probate Records, docket 9826.

201. Suffolk Probate Records, docket 9902.

202. A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, Containing the Boston Town Records, 1770 through 1777, xviii (Boston, 1887), 276–277.

203. “Assessors’ ‘Taking Books’,” p. 25.

204. Mabel M. Swan, “Major Benjamin Frothingham, Cabinetmaker,” Antiques, lxii (November, 1952), 392–395.

205. A summary of Frothingham’s military exploits and the earliest notes on his life are found in Dexter Edwin Spalding, “Benjamin Frothingham of Charlestown, Cabinetmaker and Soldier,” Antiques, xiv (December, 1928), 536–537. Frothingham’s certificate of membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, signed by George Washington and Henry Knox and dated May 5, 1784, has survived and is presently owned by Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., New York.

206. Clement E. Conger and Jane W. Pool, “Americana in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the Department of State, Washington, D.C.,” The Connoisseur, clxxiv (July, 1970), 220, figs. 7, 8.

207. I would like to acknowledge the great help of Albert Sack in acquiring photographs and information for this paper. His many years of observing details in furniture related to Frothingham have been of signal help, as has the firm’s photograph collection.

208. Helen Comstock, “Frothingham and the Question of Attributions,” Antiques, lxiii (June, 1953), 502, fig. 3 showing signature; see also Charles F. Hummel, “Queen Anne and Chippendale Furniture in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Part iii,” Antiques, xcix (January, 1971), 98–101.

209. Joseph Downs, American Furniture, Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (New York, 1952), no. 349.

210. Swan, “Major Benjamin Frothingham,” p. 393.

211. Ibid.

212. Ibid., p. 392.

213. The information and photographs were kindly supplied by Clement Conger, Chairman of the Fine Arts Committee, the Department of State, Washington, D.C.

214. Two Spragues are known to have worked in the cabinet business in Boston at later dates, one of whom, Holmes Sprague, is recorded as working after the Revolution. See Mabel M. Swan, “Boston’s Carvers and Joiners, Part ii, Post-Revolutionary,” Antiques, liii (April, 1948), 285.

215. This desk was sold in the Philip Flayderman sale of January 2–4, 1930. See The Collection of the Late Philip Flayderman (New York, 1930), lot 418.

216. Ethel Hall Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America (Garden City, New York, 1957), plate xviii, no. 2.

217. Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury (1928; rpt. New York, 1954), figs. 718, 719.

218. Helen Comstock, American Furniture (New York, 1962), fig. 304.

219. The interior is shown by Spalding, “Frothingham,” p. 537, fig. 3.

220. Richard H. Randall, Jr., American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1965), fig. 64d.

221. Swan, “Major Benjamin Frothingham,” p. 395.

222. For illustrations of the chest and label, see Margaret Rose Ingate, “History in Towns: Mobile, Alabama,” Antiques, lxxxv (March, 1964), 309. For illustrations of the Walter Frothingham chest, see Comstock, “Frothingham and the Question of Attributions” p. 505, figs. 13, 14.

223. Antiques, Lxii (November, 1952), frontispiece. This type of richly carved fan exists in a number of Boston examples including the Hancock dressing table, now in the John Hancock Insurance Company Collection (Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture: Early American [New York, 1950], p. 198, bottom); a pad-foot high chest now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Luke Vincent Lockwood, Colonial Furniture in America, 3rd ed., 2 vols. [New York, 1926], i, 97, fig. 94); and a blockfront chest-on-chest (Lockwood, Colonial Furniture, i, 360, fig. xxvii); all perhaps by the same carver.

224. Swan, “Major Benjamin Frothingham,” p. 394 showing inscription.

225. Randall, American Furniture, p. 239.

226. Flayderman, lot 417.

227. Bjerkoe, Cabinetmakers, plate xvii, no. 2.

228. The information was kindly supplied by Barry Greenlaw, Curator of Furniture at Colonial Williamsburg. For further information and illustrations, see Barry Greenlaw, New England Furniture at Colonial Williamsburg (Williamsburg, 1974), no. 98.

229. Swan, “Major Benjamin Frothingham,” p. 395.

230. General Henry Knox to Benjamin Frothingham, Charlestown, January 16, 1797, Henry Knox Papers (Maine Historical Society). Courtesy of Earle Shettleworth.

231. Quoted in Swan, “Major Benjamin Frothingham,” p. 394.

232. Quoted in Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston, 3rd ed. (Boston, 1891), pp. 40–41.

233. Suffolk County Registry of Probate, Boston, Massachusetts, docket 20668.

234. Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield, 4 vols. (Cambridge, 1961), ii, 114.

235. A vendue announcement appears in The Boston Gazette, November 21–28, 1737; an advertisement by the merchant Nathaniel Cunningham appears in The Boston Evening-Post, September 6, 1742.

236. William Douglass, A Summary, Historical and Political, of the First Planting, Progressive Improvements, and Present State of the British Settlements in North-America, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (London, 1755), ii, 61.

237. Documents and Correspondence in the Boston Public Library Concerning the Boston Fire of 1760, part ii, document 29 (microfilm copy, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum Libraries, Joseph Downs Manuscript Collection).

238. Adams Diary, ed. Butterfield, i, 228. See also Douglass, A Summary, ii, 66.

239. George B. Emerson, A Report on the Trees and Shrubs Growing Naturally in the Forests of Massachusetts (Boston, 1846), p. 60.

240. Benno M. Forman, “Mill Sawing in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts,” Old-Time New England, lx (Spring, 1970), 118–120.

241. Douglass, A Summary, ii, 54.

* Spruce wood, though little used in the construction of furniture, has long been a favorite in the making of musical instruments, especially sounding boards, for it has exceptional resonance. All of these trees ranged through all of the New England states.