The symbolism of floral inlay

Magazine Antiques, May, 1994 by Deanne Levison

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries carved and painted sunflowers, tulips, and carnations decorated Hadley and other dower chests. Later in the eighteenth century, in addition to flowers, carved panels on furniture depicted episodes from children's tales, pastorals, and allegories such as Aesop's fables.[1] Many of these decorations were intended to be more than just a pretty picture; they also conveyed messages, most of which have been deciphered.[2]

In the last decade of the eighteenth century in America, carved and painted motifs were largely supplanted by inlaid designs. Among the various paterae are flowers not previously found as furniture ornament, and it is a selection of these that are discussed here.

Flowers have been a common carrier of messages understood by everyone since Biblical times.[3] Although one must be cautious in assuming that all floral motifs had iconographic undertones,[4] an analyst of symbolism states that nothing is meaningless and everything is in some way related to something else.[5] Overflowing cornucopias and sumptuous baskets of fruit suggest harvest and plenty, acorns and oak leaves signify strength and longevity, and garlands of laurel celebrate victory. These long-recognized symbols are found on every decorative art form from carved furniture to silverwares.

No pattern books for furniture inlay are known,[6] and few American floral paterae have direct prototypes on English furniture[7] or in English design books available to Americans during the eighteenth century. It is therefore likely that certain floral motifs popular in America were both indigenous and meaningful, and that they represent the optimism and sense of rebirth that accompanied the founding of the new nation.

Oval paterae depicting floral motifs, eagles, or classical designs such as an urn appear both alone or in combination on the same piece of furniture, an example being the rosebud and urn on the sideboard shown in Plate VIII. Most floral paterae made in America depict hardy, sweet-scented, and chiefly perennial flowers that bloom in the spring, traditionally the first of the four seasons.

The paterae themselves are seen more often on furniture made south of New England. The unfavorable climate and the New England Puritan rejection of unnecessary rituals and expenses, including the use of flowers, may well explain this tendency.[8]

Lily of the valley paterae that appear to be based on a single design are used on a New York City sideboard (Pls. I, III), a Baltimore, Maryland, card table (Pls. IV, IVa), and a Charleston, South Carolina, pembroke table (Pls. V, Va). However, each inlay was clearly made by different craftsmen. This raises the question of whether the inlay makers were imitating each other or using a common pattern, and why all three cabinetmakers chose the same flower--questions to which there are not yet answer's.

The lily of the valley, traditionally a symbol for the coming of Christ, in the nineteenth century came to signify the advent of spring, the happy season.[9] In a 1773 fable by John Huddlestone Wynne, the small lily of the valley is paired with the tall hollyhock:

Within the garden's culture walks

A Hollyhocks there grew;

And there the Lily of the Vale

Kept humble distance due. The fable then explains how a tempest blew down the big hollyhocks but not the small, strong lilies. Tt ends with the moral:

The Lily view'd the ruind flower',

And strait the Moral drew;

"Beauty and Pride are idley vain,

But Praise is Merit's due."[10]

Rosebud paterae are found primarily on furniture from Charleston, Baltimore, New York City, and Salem and Springfield, Massachusetts. The rosebud paterae on a chest of drawers attributed to Michael Allison of New York City (Pls. VII, VIIa) and on a sideboard made by William Lloyd of Springfield (Pls. VIII, VIIIa) appear to be by quite different inlay specialists. The rosebud paterae on the pembroke tables from Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina, shown in Plates X, Xa and XI, XIa respectively, appear to be by the same craftsman. Neither Allison nor Lloyd is known to have made inlays, and no inlay specialists have so far been recorded as working in Charleston.[11] It is possible that the southern makers imported their inlays from Baltimore, where there were many specialists. A Baltimore toolmaker named William Vance (w. 1806-1813) advertised in 1806 that he has lately received from the manufactory of Duhurst and Son, (Boston,) and will be regularly supplied with a large and elegant assortment of Banding, Stringing, and other ornaments, suitable for cabinetmakers.[12]

A John Dewhurst is listed in Boston city directories as a stringing maker inter-mittently between 1806 and 1810. In 1808 a George Dewhurst advertised in Baltimore is "NEW MANUFACTORY OF Stringing & Glass Paper."[13] The relationship between the two Dewhursts is not known, if it existed at all. However, it is intriguing to speculate that John Dewhurst supplied rosebud paterae to Lloyd, and George Dewhurst made the rosebud paterae on the South Carolina pembroke tables.