NINETEENTH-CENTURY FURNITURE

NINETEENTH-CENTURY FURNITURE

by Joan K. Yanni

Have you stopped to look at the intriguing arrangement in the Folk Art Room near the stairway?  The items on display are all articles that might be found in a 19th-century home.

Both the ladder back chair and the covered wooden box are from the Shaker culture.  The Shakers created beautifully simple, utilitarian furniture with remarkable craftsmanship.  The curved box is of maple and pine wood; the chair was made from maple and birch with a tape seat.  The Shakers—a popular name for the United Believers in Christ's Second Appearance-were a communal celibate order begun in 1787.  The community rose to about 6000 members, but because of the limitations imposed by celibacy, only a small group now remains in Maine.

The Dower Chest and hooked rug are from the Pennsylvania German, or Pennsylvania Dutch tradition.  The term Pennsylvania "Dutch" comes from "Deutsche", or German, and refers to settlers who fled religious persecutions in the Rhine Valley.  The first group arrived in Pennsylvania in the early 1690s in answer to William Penn's invitation to colonize his large tract of land.  As more German groups arrived, they developed communities of farmers and artisans isolated from the English by their language.  They adapted their distinctive German culture to fit their American needs.

A chest such as MAG's was one of the most important pieces of furniture in the household; it served as storage for valuable belongings, and could be used as a bench by day and a bed by night.  Often a girl planning marriage was given a Dower chest by her father, who probably made it himself.  In it she saved linens, china, silver or anything of value she wished to take to her new home.  Red or blue were favorite colors for the chests. They were decorated with painted tulips, hearts, peacocks, turtledoves and other symbols—tulips being the most common.  The tulip was easy to draw, and was considered a variation of the lily, a promise of paradise. Its three petals denoted the Trinity. The heart represented the heart of God, a source of love and hope. The turtledoves represented the Believer seeking Christ. A peacock stood for the Resurrection.  In later years the symbols lost religious meaning and were used as colorful "hex" signs to protect houses and barns.  They can still be seen in the countryside around Lancaster, Kutztown and other southeastern Pennsylvania areas.

The hooked rug is also of Pennsylvania Dutch origin.  Though at first home floors were bare, farm wives began to recycle old clothing—Papa's worn pants, grandma's wool petticoats, and ragged school clothes—and make rugs to warm and decorate their rooms.  Old garments were torn into strips about 1/2 inch wide and rolled into balls, then made into braided or hooked rugs. The hooked type were more fugal, since they could be made from shorter pieces of fabric.  Our rug shows the traditional birds and flowers in bright colors.

The tin lantern, though not necessarily made by the Pennsylvania Dutch, was often found in their homes.  This lantern was probably supplied by the itinerant  peddler who sold many items, from pots and pans to ovens and lamps.  Since tin is soft, it can easily be ornamented with punchwork, piercing or crimping.  Pennsylvania Dutch tinware was not made entirely of tin, but a sheet of iron rolled very thin, cleaned in a pickling solution, and then dipped in a vat of molten tin.

The horse in our case, labeled "hobby horse," was probably never used as a child's toy—it is too fragile.  It might have been a trade sign, or, more likely, a sample used by salesmen to show various saddle designs.

The lovely stoneware vessels were common in most 19th century homes. Dense clays were used to withstand high temperatures, and a salt glaze—common table salt thrown into the kiln while firing at its highest heat—resulted from salt vapors, which left a deposit on the surface forming a thin film of silicate. Cobalt blue was used to color the pieces because it is one of the few coloring additives that can stand the high temperatures needed to fire stoneware. The crock on display is stamped "John Burger, Rochester." The jug, decorated with hearts, is Geddes Pottery from Syracuse.

The thermometer was made in Rochester by Albert Bohacket, a carver born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, who had a shop on State Street.  It was donated to the Gallery by the Rochester Taylor-Sybron Corporation.

Finally, the theorem painting was popular as a household decoration.  A design was traced on transparent paper, then cut out to form a stencil, or "theorem."  Paintings created by theorems were composed of noncontiguous parts, both for originality and to prevent wet colors from bleeding into one another.