An extremely rare example
of a Foliated Vine chest attributed to the Moore shop
tradition, this piece was probably made by Nathaniel Gaylord
(1656-1720), Windsor, Conn., circa 1680, of oak and pine.
Gaylord was married to the granddaughter of carpenter and
joiner John Moore (1614-1677). Collection Old Sturbridge
Village.
By Carol Sims
DEERFIELD, MASS. -- Twenty-eight examples of early woodworking
installed at Historic Deerfield's Flynt Center of Early New
England Life present a new take on furniture of the Connecticut
River Valley by highlighting the critical importance of Windsor,
Conn., cabinetmakers. "The : A Connecticut Community of Craftsmen
and Their World, 1635-1715" carefully unfolds the evolution of
style that emanated from Windsor and continued to flourish and
evolve into the now better-known Hadley and Wethersfield styles.
These wonderful pieces of early American furniture, admirable for
their craftsmanship, are testaments to the hardiness and
creativity of the early immigrant settlers. They will remain on
view through August 18 before traveling to the Windsor Historical
Society in September.
Deerfield's Assistant Curator of Furniture Joshua Lane, assisted
in his research by Donald White, established that there were 205
individuals who practiced a woodworking trade in Windsor from
1635 to 1715. Among those, there were approximately 16 known
workshops. Lane has brought together objects attributed to eight
prominent woodworkers who were immigrant masters of shop
traditions. While records exist of the other eight shops, there
are few if any known surviving objects from those shops.
The forms that have most commonly survived are hardy boxes and
chests and a few tables and chairs. The chests were typically
used to store linens, which would have been much more costly than
the chests used to protect them. Beds, standing presses (similar
to an armoire) and other forms have yet to be found and are
probably no longer extant, although there are records of their
creation.
Whereas in politics one might "follow the money," in furniture
Joshua Lane has followed the history of the woodworker families
who worked in differing shop traditions. The records of Windsor,
Hartford, Hadley, Wethersfield, Hatfield, Springfield and other
Connecticut River Valley towns are remarkably intact. Stored in
the obscure safety of town halls, records of births, church
membership, land grants, marriages, business dealings, probate
and other court proceedings shed light on the influence of
Windsor upon other Connecticut River Valley styles. The family
trees of Windsor's woodworking families are intertwined in a
marvelously complex web.
The gravestone of Thomas Stoughton in East Windsor Hill has
beautiful carving reminiscent of the chests decorated by the .
Whole congregations followed Puritan ministers to American shores
seeking religious freedom. After first arriving in Dorchester,
Mass., a group of about 40 Puritans and their families settled
with the Rev Warham in 1635 in an area north of Hartford along
the banks of the important fur-trade conduit of the time, the
Connecticut River. They named the new settlement "Windsor," after
a town in England. The immigrants brought traditional English
taste to the New World -- simple straightforward
well-proportioned furniture with flat carved decoration that
alleviated its sturdy functionality. These English styles
followed the highly wrought designs of Renaissance artists from
Germany and Italy in the abstract geometric style known as
Mannerism, found also in ceramic decoration, embroidery and
engravings.
Foliated Vine Group
Among the immigrant congregation of Windsor was the 21-year-old
John Moore (1614-1677), a woodworker from Southwold, Suffolk, in
England. Moore became a patriarch of the community as well as a
deacon of the church. As a woodworker, he was master of what Lane
titles the "Foliated Vine Group." The name refers to furniture
decorated with vines and blossoms carved in shallow relief with
flat surfaces. The flowering vines curve and twist in an ordered
symmetrical fashion with Mannerist taste that was precisely
planned out to make full use of the space.
John Moore left behind a sizeable record of his life. Lane writes
in the catalog, "Deacon John Moore was at the center of a nexus
of woodworking families that extended through four generations to
include the Drakes, Bissells, Loomises, Barbers, Griswolds,
Stoughtons and others. Together, these families largely
controlled the woodworking trade in the region until the
mid-Eighteenth Century."
Ogee Molding Group
The most successful woodworkers were those who were closely
associated with the church and town. Important town and church
construction contracts went to woodworkers with connections. One
exception was the resourceful Aaron Cook, who after immigrating
to Windsor in 1635, never joined the Windsor church or held
public office. He moved to Simsbury, and then to Northampton by
1660 where he finally attained "pillar of the community" status.
He built Northampton's meetinghouse, served as captain of its
militia (as he had in Windsor) and represented Northampton at the
Massachusetts General Court. He left behind records of four
marriages, six children and court records of many disputes with
his neighbors in Windsor.
The joined chest, circa 1660, attributed to the Hampshire County,
Mass., workshop of Aaron Cook, was recently acquired by Historic
Deerfield at a Douglas auction. It has a direct line of ownership
from Hatfield, Mass., resident Jonathan Morton (1684-1767) and
exemplifies the construction, form, ogee (s-shaped) molding and
stock preparation of the Cook shop tradition.
Lane observes, "Many of the ornamental and structural features of
this chest recur throughout late Seventeenth Century Hampshire
County joinery, suggesting that woodworkers trained in, or
emulating, the Cook shop tradition spread these style features to
the region and adapted them to tulip-and-leaf chests."
Opposing Gouge Group
Not much is known about the Windsor originators of this group,
named for line patterns created by opposing gouges. Three known
examples feature complex diamond patterns. The top rail of each
chest is decorated with incised lunettes. Lane writes, "...the
arcs of the lunettes are laid out with two small opposing compass
arcs that are cut freehand with a V-profile parting tool." Other
traits include oversized frame member stock, butted and nailed
floorboard, and floor rail joint secured by a single pin.
Trefoil Group Attributed to the Barber Shop Tradition
Not all the woodworkers who immigrated to Windsor were welcomed
with open arms. The Barber family came from Bedford, England,
where farming practices and ownership differed from those of the
prominent families of Windsor. They granted Thomas Barber, Sr,
just 30 acres far from the protection of the palisadoed center of
town. After trying to eke out a living with little community
support, Barber was invited to settle in Northampton, but both he
and his wife died in 1662 before he could move, leaving six
children. The youngest, his 9-year-old son Josiah, was indentured
to Deacon John Moore, and eventually married Moore's
granddaughter, Abigail Loomis.
Two other sons, the 19-year-old Thomas Barber, Jr, and his
14-year-old brother Samuel Barber, inherited woodworking tools
from their father and set up their own shop. When no Windsor town
construction contracts came their way Thomas Barber, Jr, and his
family settled in Massaco (renamed Simsbury in 1672) and built
the town's gristmill, saw mill, meetinghouse and minister's
house. He ended up a wealthy man and community leader.
The distinctive tri-foliate decorations on the Barber chests
inspired Lane to categorize them as the trefoil group. The oldest
piece attributed to the Barber shop tradition is the Nicholas
Hoyt chest of 1655, which was probably made by Thomas Barber, Sr
(1614-1662). It was owned by Windsor immigrant Nicholas Hoyt
(1662-1655) and then by his son David (1651-1704) who brought the
chest to Hadley in 1678 and then to Deerfield in 1682.
Lane observed that Barber Sr's plane leaned to the right causing
a distinctive but subtle curve in his carving. When his son
inherited the plane, his carving would have had the same
distinction. Two of the Barber chests have these curved plane
strokes in their carved decoration. A third chest was more
crudely carved than the other two and was possibly made by the
younger, lesser-trained Samuel Barber.
Peak Molding Group
This style, named for the angled, convex, "peaked" moldings about
one-inch wide that appear in its examples, is attributed to the
Rockwell family that came to Windsor in 1635. One representative
piece in the show is a joined chest with very little decoration,
making it the simplest in the exhibition. It carries traces of
old paint that would have once been a vibrant colorful design.
The milk-based paint that was commonly used to embellish
furniture of the period was prone to oxidation and has all but
disappeared. Identifying features include mortise and tenon
joints secured with two pins, "except the joint between the
unusually narrow side muntins and top and floor rails, which are
secured with a single pin."
The Guilloche Group
Commissioned to build the pews, pulpit and window casements for
Windsor's First Church, William Buell (1614-1681) had a
reputation for good finish work that led him to other
commissions, such as doing finish work for the Springfield,
Mass., meetinghouse. Lane chose "guilloche" to refer to the
carved intermeshed rosettes that decorate Buell's rather large
boxes.
The Calligraphic Group
Attributed to the Drake shop tradition, this box is part of the
Calligraphic Group, possibly by Jacob Drake, Windsor, Conn.,
circa 1680. Collection of J. Peter Spang.
The colorful blue and peach paint on the box used to illustrate
this group make it a standout. Although not original, the choice
of color is probably accurate said Lane. He notes that it is
carved in a style characteristic of England's South West Country.
The box belonged to Elizabeth Bissell and the initials EB are
prominently carved in a flowing calligraphic style with
asymmetrical flourishes, leaves and flowers. It is attributed to
the Drake family, quite likely by Jacob Drake, Elizabeth's uncle,
on the occasion of her marriage in 1682. Lane writes, "Some of
the principle carved elements of the 'EB' box may prefigure
ornamentation characteristic of Hampshire County joinery."
Serrated Foliate Group
The Stoughton family was very active in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony before Thomas Stoughton, Jr, moved to Windsor in 1635. His
grandson, Thomas Stoughton IV (1662-1748), helped establish a
second church on the east side of the river in what was to become
East Windsor. The Stoughtons "provided expensively carved case
furniture to some of the region's wealthiest families," writes
Lane in the catalog. He continues, "The products of the Stoughton
joinery shops would serve as the prototype for the so-called
'sunflower' group of case furniture traditionally attributed to
Wethersfield worker Peter Blin."
Symposium
"New England Joined Furniture and Its English Context" a $75
daylong public symposium highlighting Historic Deerfield's
collection of early American furniture, will be offered on
Saturday, June 14, at Historic Deerfield featuring "English and
Continental Context of Seventeenth Century Joined Furniture"
lecture by Robert Trent; "Chests of Central and Coastal
Connecticut" lecture by Martha Willoughby; "The : A Connecticut
Community of Craftsmen and Their World, 1635-1715," gallery talk
by Joshua Lane, assistant curator of furniture, Historic
Deerfield, and Donald White, research associate, Historic
Deerfield; and a demonstration, "Wet-wood Joinery Methods, Tools
and Technique" by Robert Tarule, Goddard College. For information
about the symposium, call Joan Morel 413-775-7201.
While modest in size, "" provides an opportunity to see these
magnificent artifacts of early American culture in an intimate
and intelligent presentation. The Flynt Center is also exhibiting
"Telltale Textiles: Quilts From The Historic Deerfield
Collection."
The exhibition catalog, written by curator by Joshua Lane,
with Donald P. White as research assistant, will be available
mid-June by calling the museum store at 413-775-7170. For
information, 413-774-5581 or visit
www.historic-deerfield.org.
