The Pre-Closet Era

Object: Corner Cupboard

Accession #: 1944.0002

1944.0002

This corner cupboard is an example of British and American furniture form of the 18th and 19th centuries and was intended for storage.  Constructed of walnut, it was probably produced in the Shenandoah Valley. It has a molded cornice above four shelves which are over a single paneled door. The whole cupboard rests on ogee bracket feet that have a vertical profile in the form of an S-curve, convex above and concave below. Cupboards first appeared in America in the 17th century and movable corner cupboards were in general use by the 18th century. The Randolphs may have used a piece of furniture like this one to keep their array of clothing folded and accessible. 
 

One historian explains that if a cupboard is 7.5 or 8 feet high it is probably a product of the South where rooms such as those at the Wilton House had high ceilings.  Cupboards with paneled doors were also a popular product of the South. The term cupboard began to be used in the Middle Ages and referred to the assembly of boards to be used as shelves to display cups, goblets, and similar items. Most were designed to use the upper part for display and the lower portion for storage. Featuring four shelves without enclosure and single door below them, this cupboard appears to be designed for these purposes as well. If the Randolphs kept their clothes in a cupboard such as this one they undoubtedly would have wanted to display the finery they owned. The Randolphs were a family of means who could afford to be fashionable, as anyone who saw what was put on those shelves would be reminded.

Corner Cupboard, 1750-1790, American: South, Virginia,

Walnut, Yellow Pine, Metropolitan Museum of Art

The elite spared no expense when it came to keeping up with the latest styles and best materials. As one historian describes the dress of a daughter of a typical Virginia planter in the 1770’s, she “could have worn at the same time a gown of silk from China, underclothing of linen from Holland, and footwear made in England – all shipped in a vast network of trade from their places of origin to a shop or warehouse in London, where they were selected by a merchant, [and] packed for a lengthy voyage across the ocean in a ship”. Much of what women wore could be purchased through import trade. Upper class men as well could afford to have their outfit custom-made in London to fit their exact measurements, specifications for expensive fabrics, and embellishments such as imported buttons. A cupboard like this one was a very useful piece of furniture used to store the many neatly folded and meticulously pressed articles of clothing owned by a wealthy family like the Randolphs.

Bibliography

Baumgarten, Linda. “Looking at Eighteenth Century Clothing”. Colonial Williamsburg. 7

October 2012.

Boyce, Charles. Dictionary of Furniture. Roundtable Press, Inc. New York: 1985.

Boger, Louise Ade. The Complete Guide to Furniture Styles. Charles Scribner’s Sons. New

York: 1969.

Comstock, Helen. American Furniture: Seveteenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Century Styles.

The Viking Press. Inc. New York: 1962.

Ketchum Jr., William C. Chest, Cupboards, Desks and other pieces. Alfred A Knopf, Inc. New

York: 1982.

Obbard, John W. Early American Furniture: a guide to who, when, and where. Collector Books.

Paducah: 2006.

Image Credit

http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/10002329?rpp=20&pg=1&rndkey=20121015&ft=*&deptids=1&what=Softwood%7cCupboards&pos=16-http://csulb.edu/projects/elizabethmurray/EM/smcupboard.html

A Divine Seat

Object: Bishop’s Folding Traveling Chair

c. 1750-1770

Accession #: 1998.0001

With most folding furniture constructed during the 18^th century more emphasis is focused on how the chair works rather than the artistic or decorative arts aspects of the furniture.  Such emphasis may not have been the case with this particular folding chair.  This bishop’s chair is made of walnut with leather cushioned arms and seat.  The pierced splat is decoratively adorned with a lattice design and leaf motif.  Where the lattice work ends and meets at the top of the chair is an image of a cross.  Above the cross is the top rail, or crest rail, which has a row of fleur-de-leis bordered by a row of leaves, and the ears of the chair ripple out with carved ridges.  The chair has hinges on both sides to accommodate folding and carrying by the owner.

In the late 18th century, folding furniture was beginning to be made for travelling.  Some chairs referred to as “folding chairs” did not actually fold, but were taken apart when transported. Folding furniture dates back to the ancient Greeks who had a folding stool which had “X” shaped legs and a leather seat.  The owner’s status was reflected in the construction of these stools.  There is also evidence of folding furniture found in Egyptian tombs. 

The parlor of Wilton was where weddings, funerals, and christenings likely took place.  It is quite possible that the visiting clergy may have used a chair similar to this one while officiating at these events.  This type of chair may have evolved from the faldstool which was a portable chair stool that was taken with the bishop on his travels away from his own cathedral or place of worship.  The faldstool became a ceremonial chair taken with the bishop and may have been covered with silk.  It was used by most traveling clergy as early as the Middle Ages.  According to one historian, “The bishop's chair is called a cathedra from the Latin word for chair and it is the presence of the bishop's cathedra in a church that makes it a cathedral. The bishop's chair, then is a symbol of the bishop's teaching office and pastoral power in his diocese.”  The chair represented the authority to teach in ancient times. 

It was common for ministers to do extensive travelling outside of their own church buildings and also to make visits to homes.  In his book called Old Churches and Families of Virginia, Bishop Meade writes of a minister of the Bristol Parish in Dinwiddie County who “during his years of travelling, when he visited counties in North Carolina and Virginia,” was involved in “preaching in private homes.”  Also in George Wythe Munford’s The Two Parsons: Cupid’s sports; The dream; and the jewels of Virginia, Parson Buchanan is visited by a gentleman, “…announcing himself as Col. Robert Braintree, of the county of Mecklenburg.  After a few common-place remarks, he said, ‘I presume Mr. Buchanan, you have heard that I am about to be married to Miss Ingledon. I have called to request you to hold in readiness to perform the ceremony.  It is to take place on Thursday evening next, at her mother’s residence, at eight o’clock.’” As was the case with some weddings, funerals and christenings also took place in the home.  The Miss Ingledon mentioned by Munford is believed to be Miss Lucy Singleton, daughter of the late Captain Anthony Singleton and Lucy Harrison Singleton, widow of Peyton Randolph of Wilton.

Folding furniture was made for the convenience of travel.  A chair such as this was made for traveling clergy who presided over weddings, funerals, and christenings extending beyond the bounds of their own church walls and into such homes as Wilton. This chair and its counterparts were a symbol of the authority the clergy had who carried it along on his journeys. 

Bibliography

Aronson, Joseph. Encyclopedia of Furniture. 3rd rev. ed. New York: Crown Publishers Inc.,

1965.

Giblin, James Cross. Be Seated: A Book about Chairs. Harper Collins Publishers, 1993.

Meade, Bishop. Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia. 2 vols. Philadelphia:

Lippincott Company, 1906.

Munford, George Wythe. The Two Parsons, Cupid’s sport; the dream; and the jewels of Virginia.

Googlebooks.com. 7 May 2012. <http://books.google.com/books/about/The_two_parsons.html?id=D7ToA3qVifEC>

“Folding Chair”. Search the Collections. V&A. 2 May 2012.

<http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O93872/folding-chair/>

“Faldstool”. Wikipedia. 18 April 2012. 2 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faldstool>

“Interesting Facts about Bishops”. Diocese of Orlando. 2 May 2012.

<http://www.orlandodiocese.org/en/about-the-diocese/history/facts-about-bishops>

“Folding chairs: Glastonbury Type”. Tim Bray. Albion Works. 15 March 2003. 2 May 2012.

<http://albionworks.com/ChairsPage/FoldingChairs.htm>

“Faldstool-Bishop’s Chair”. Peter Leue Designer/Craftsman. 2 May 2012.

<http://www.peterleuedesignercraftsman.com/1980s/studio-furniture/9568839>

“Furniture Anatomy Illustrated”. Your Antique Furniture Guide. 2 May 2012. <http://www.efi-

costarica.com/furniture-anatomy.html>