Southern Furniture 1680-1830

Side Chair
Great Britain, 1750-1770
European walnut
Side Chair
Petersburg, Virginia, 1765-1790
Black walnut
Catalog no. 22

Several Irish cabinetmakers worked near the lower Rappahannock River in the vicinity of Tappahannock, Virginia, between 1740 and 1760. Although these artisans used native Virginia woods such as cherry, black walnut, and yellow pine, the Irish origin of their designs is unmistakable. Compare the overall form of the Rappahannock table on the left with the Irish table on the right. In particular, note the striking correspondence between the apron shape, cabriole legs, carving on the knees, and form of the feet.

Side Chair
Great Britain, 1750-1770
European walnut

Square Tea Table
Ireland, 1750-1765
Mahogany with deal

Tall Clock
Movement by Thomas Walker
Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1765-1785
Black walnut with yellow pine
Catalog no. 167

Writing or Dressing Table
Rappahannock River Basin, Virginia, 1760-1775
Cherry with yellow pine

British Pattern Books in the Colonial Chesapeake
Published British pattern books helped to reenforce British fashions in the colonial Chesapeake. Estate records and newspaper advertisements confirm that a number of pattern books were owned in the region. Sometimes the best evidence for the presence of such publications is the dramatic resemblance between the images they contain and locally made furniture.

Clothespress
John Selden
Norfolk, Virginia, 1775
Mahogany with yellow pine
Long-term loan from Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hill Carter
Catalog no. 121

British Cabinetmakers in the Chesapeake
A constant stream of British furniture makers emigrated to coastal Maryland and Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the eighteenth century. Joiners, turners, chairmakers, cabinetmakers, and upholsterers from all parts of the British Isles settled throughout the Chesapeake. Over time, they passed British design standards on to the hundreds of native-born apprentices and slaves who trained in their shops. Chesapeake furniture buyers consequently developed a deeply rooted preference for goods in the British taste.

Note the dramatic similarity between the Chesapeake furniture and the British prototypes displayed here.