Eastern Shore, Virginia, raised-panel furniture, 1730-1830

Chrysler Museum, 1982. Paperback. Very Good. 12x9x0. Chrysler Museum [Published date: 1982]. Soft cover, 135 pp. No other printings listed. In very good condition. Glossy pictorial paper covers have a 1/2" closed tear at the top edge of the back cover near the spine and very light bumping to edges and corners of covers. Light fading to spine and light overall scuffing to covers. Binding tight. Pages clean and unmarked. NOT Ex-library. NO remainder marks. Black and white illustrations with some in color. [Excerpts from Introduction] Interest in American decorative arts dates from the nineteenth century; and since then, hundreds of serious studies have appeared concerning almost all aspects of furniture and other decorative arts made in such areas as Philadelphia, New York, and New England. However, the decorative arts of the South have received comparatively little attention. . . The Eastern Shore of Virginia which encompasses Northampton and Accomack Counties has been occupied continuously from early in the seventeenth century. Surviving wills and inventories in Accomack County have provided much information as to the quantity, quality, and variety of possessions of the inhabitants. Not surprisingly, much of the furniture once on the Eastern Shore has been lost. . . . While many forms of furniture were used on and have been lost from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, one large group demonstrating strong regional characteristics has managed to survive from its beginning in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. This is the raised-panel furniture group which includes clothes presses, blanket chests, flat-wall cupboards, bookcases, turkey-breast cupboards, and corner cupboards... The stated purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive documentation and comparative study of the presently known examples of this regionally characteristic southern furniture group. This book is written from the point-of-view of the craftsman. The descriptions are intentionally detailed in an effort to help the reader see and understand that at which he is looking. The book is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides a socioeconomic evaluation. Chapters 2 through 7 cover each of the six basic types of Eastern Shore raised-panel furniture. Each piece is individually discussed in detail within its section. An attempt is made to group related pieces within each section and to compare these pieces with related pieces in other sections. Where possible, the pieces have been arranged chronologically. The raised panel is an architectural feature which was widely used by house joiners throughout colonial America. The Eastern Shore was no exception to this, and numerous early houses remain with their paneling. This house paneling is closely related to the raised-panel furniture group, and both probably were produced by the house joiners working on the Shore. In any case, a common design source accounts for their strong similarity. Examples of architectural paneling and design sources are illustrated and discussed with related pieces of furniture. Hopefully, this study will stimulate further interest in this region.