Classical furniture in Savannah, Georgia

Magazine Antiques, May, 1995 by Page Talbott

Another Philadelphia cabinetmaker associated with Savannah was Joseph B. Barry, who announced in the Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser on October 5, 1798, that he had "Lately landed from Philadelphia and [had] for sale at Messrs. Meins & Mackay's stores...A most compleat Assortment of Elegant and warranted well finished MAHOGANY FURNITURE."(30) He returned to Philadelphia less than two months later but continued to provide furniture to some of Savannah's most prosperous citizens for several decades. The armchair in Plate XIX was originally owned by Isaac Minis, whose family summered in Philadelphia and wintered in Savannah.(31) Its imposing size and spare design make it an unusual example of late classical American furniture, related more to French than to English examples.(32)

The Barry armchair makes an interesting comparison to another chair owned by Minis, which was probably made in Savannah (Pl. VII). One of a group of chairs with similar turnings, shape, and inlay, each of the Savannah-made chairs has the same rosette inlaid in the crest rail, although other details vary. The unsophisticated nature of the detailing and construction indicates that these chairs were made by an untrained craftsman, but over-all they suggest an awareness of high style furniture.

Most of the Philadelphia furniture owned in Savannah in the early nineteeth century is by unknown cabinetmakers. Although the extension dining table in Plate XI is usually attributed to the shop of Henry Connelly (w. 1801-1823),(33) it could have been made by any of several Philadelphia craftsmen, based on the quality of the over-all workmanship, the low-relief carving, and the use of reeding and rosettes.(34) Suitable for accommodating large parties yet collapsible, extension tables carne into use around 1800.(35) One plan for such a table illustrated in the 1821 edition of the London Cabinetmakers Book of Prices... [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED] incorporates a diamond-shaped telescoping mechanism similar to that on the table discussed here, which can accommodate five leaves and seat twenty people.

The table was owned by James Proctor Screven, a physician who abandoned his medical practice in 1831 to devote himself to his rice plantation on the Savannah River.(36) He and his wife, Hannah, also owned a set of twelve mahogany dining chairs (see Pl. VI) that am stylistically related to other chairs made in Philadelphia. They incorporate the saber legs, curved stiles, and shaped back so popular during the first three decades of the nineteenth century, but the overhang on the chair backs and the shape of the front legs more precisely date them to the 1820's.

Timothy G. Barnard(37) owned the classical Philadelphia worktable in Plate X, which combines many elements of the English Regency stye: the use of reeding, the vase-shaped support, large uninterrupted veneered surfaces, and an over-all emphasis on vertical and horizontal lines juxtaposed against ovals. The astragal shape of the case and the top were features produced in relatively sophisticated urban shops in the mid-Atlantic region for local consumption or as venture cargo.(38) The reeded pilasters on the case and the bulbous turning of the vase confirm a Philadelphia provenance.