Eighteenth-century Philadelphia case furniture at Stenton

Magazine Antiques, May, 2002 by Philip D. Zimmerman

Other repairs and changes have altered the original appearance of the secretary. Each of the drawers in the desk section has stringing around its outer borders, which is probably the remnants of cock-beading--a projecting bead molding that originated in furniture design to protect veneer edges on drawer fronts. Occasionally it was used as a decorative feature on American furniture with solid drawer fronts. (8) The use of cock-beading is incongruous with the present double-arch moldings between the drawers in the desk section, but those moldings are additions. Originally the secondary wood drawer dividers--which need a mahogany covering of some kind--may have been covered with mahogany crossbanded veneers such as those that surround the three small drawers in the top tier This treatment, like so many other features of this secretary, is unusual in Philadelphia furniture of this time. Although present-day chronologies for designs and decorative treatments are constantly being revised, such features as the pedim ent design, the bold moldings surrounding the mirror panels, the molding encasing the bookcase doors, the square "lopers" supporting the hinged lid, and the scalloped base composed of mirror-image ogee moldings suggest that the secretary was probably made in the 173 Os or early 1740s. (9)

The most recent additions to the Stenton collection are a high chest (P1. III) and matching dressing table (P1. IV) of vibrant striped maple, which were made for the house in 1738. The two case pieces descended through Logan's family to Robert R. Logan (1874-1956), who in 1939, sold several pieces of the family furniture, including the high chest and dressing table, to the antiques dealer Joe Kindig Jr. (1898-1971). The sale helped finance Logan's ongoing contributions to social welfare, underscoring his preferred legacy as a social benefactor over that of a steward of important family antiques. Kindig in turn sold the two case pieces to Pamela (1906-2001) and Lammot du Pont Copeland (1905-1983), whose interest in returning them to Stenton after their lifetimes was constant. Mrs. Copeland recently bequeathed them to the house.

The high chest and dressing table are important to both Stenton and American furniture history. To know that they were originally in the house heightens the modem visitor's sense of historical reality, which often pales in competition with virtual re-creations and abstract intellectual arguments about historical subjects. The 1752 and 1754 estate inventories both list "in the Yellow Lodging Room" or "Chamber" on the second floor "1 Maple Chest of Drawers & Table ['maple dressing table' in 1754]" valued at seven pounds, a description that fits the Copeland bequest. (10) Except for the secretary, these two case pieces were valued higher than any other furniture except beds (with their valuable textiles), a few looking glasses, and a clock. The large yellow room, situated at the head of the stairs, also contained a set of "twelve maple chairs with worsted damask bottoms," which, at 27s. 6d. per chair, were the most expensive in the house. (11)