Images(5)

Corner Cupboard

Dateca. 1830

Attributed to John Swisegood

OriginAmerica, North Carolina, Davidson County

MediumBlack walnut, yellow pine, tulip poplar, light and dark wood inlays, glass

DimensionsOH: 95 ½”; OH: 41 ½”; 18 ½”

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections, The Sara and Fred Hoyt Furniture Fund, and the TIF Foundation in memory of Michelle A. Iverson

Object number2016-194

DescriptionAppearance: One piece corner cupboard with canted sides and broken scroll pediment; carved pinwheel rosettes; central pendant element under central finial carved with linear reeds angled from center point down towards side with lightwood heart in center; three urn and spire finials (two replaced) caved with diagonal reeding around urn and inverted acorn at top of spire; singled arched glazed door with nine (three by three) rectangular panes with gothic arched pane topped by an inverted gothic arch at center over top rectangle and four shaped panes around sides of arch; inside cupboard are three shelves; interior painted Prussian blue (repainted in 2016 Based on paint analysis of original painted surface); glazed door flanked by applied vestigial pilasters with rectangular reeded tops and unreeded bases; corners of cupboard have rope carved element from about 8” from the top to just above and below the mid and base moldings; lower case divided from upper case with a diagonal reed carved molding that angles in opposite directions from the center point; large cock beaded drawer below mid-molding with light and dark wood barber-pole banding around perimeter and central stamped oval brass drawer pull; molding below drawer, which extends around to canted sides of case as does reeded mid-molding, separates drawer from paneled door flanked by inscribed diamond and oval vertical guioche; door divided into two inset flat panels each with molding on the rails and stiles around the panel and on applied quarter rounds; straight bracket feet with rounded shaped return; single shelf inside lower case.

Construction: The yellow pine back and walnut sides and stiles are face nailed to the top, upper case floor, drawer support shelf, bottom and upper and lower case shelves. The back is nailed into rabbets in the sides. It is comprised of two tongue and groove joined boards on each side butt joined and nailed to a center board which is mitered on both sides to match the angle of the sides. The top and bottom are tulip poplar, the upper case floor and drawer support shelf are tulip poplar. (The paint on the shelves obscures visual identification of the wood.)

The sides and stiles butt join forming an inside corner into which the corner molding is fit and face nailed. The facing corner of the corner molding is rope carved from about 8” from the top and about 1” above and below the mid and drawer blade moldings, and terminating 1” above the base molding. The cornice board is tenoned and pegged to the stiles The half round curve on the underside of the cornice is completed on both sides with 4” walnut blocks pieced in and nailed to the stiles.

The cornice board is face nailed to the edge of the top. A two piece walnut cornice molding consists of a half round carved rope molding nailed to the upper edge of a cove molding which is in turn nailed to the upper edge of the broken scroll and terminating where it meets the integral carved pinwheel rosettes. The central pendent element is carved with angled reeds forming chevrons surrounding a carved lightwood central heart applied to it with glue. The element is in turn glued and nailed to the pediment and integral central plinth. The plinths on either side are carved with angled reeds and nailed from the top to the stiles and sides. The three carved urn and spire finials are carved with diagonal reeding and rest in the plinths with round tenons. The broken scroll tympanum board is chamfered and relieved on the top edges.

The medial rail and the drawer blade are tenoned and pegged to the stiles. The medial rail is also nailed to the edge of the upper case floor. The drawer blade is nailed to the edge of the drawer support shelf. The bottom rail is tenoned to the stiles and probably nailed to the edge of the bottom.

Decorative moldings on either side of the glazed door are glued and nailed in place as is the single piece drawer blade molding and the three piece waist molding, which consists of a diagonally reeded section sandwiched between two moldings. The paneled door is flanked by diamond and oval vertical guilloche incised into the stiles.

The center backboard is shaped and extended to the floor to form the back support leg. It is supplemented by a block nailed to it with modern nails that extends from the underside of the bottom to the floor. The sides and stiles extend to the floor at the front corners. The stiles are shaped to accommodate mitered bracket feet that are glued and nailed to the stiles and sides. A mitered molding is glued and nailed to the stiles, sides and edge of the bottom above the bracket feet.

On the glazed door, the bottom rail is through-tenoned and double pegged to the stiles. The curved upper rail is in two sections connected at the center with a 2” double pegged open tenon. The stiles are tenoned to the curved upper rail with 7” open tenons, each with 4 pegs. The muntins are tenoned into the stiles, rails and each other. The top horizontal muntins tenons are pegged.

On the panel door, the rails are through-tenoned and through-pegged to the stiles. The medial stile is tenoned to the rails. The panels are chamfered on the back to fit into dados in the rails and stiles. Applied moldings on the flat inset door panels are glued to the panels as are the applied quarter rounds on each corner. The quarter rounds on the inside corners are vertically grained while those on the outside corners are horizontal grained.

The brass barrel hinges and locks on both glazed and panel doors are original and match each other. Both locking doors also have inlaid diamond shaped lightwood key escutcheons.

The straight sides, canted sides and back panel of the drawer are comprised of a single yellow pine board with wedges cut out at the four angled corners leaving sufficient material to bend the board at each corner. At each end, the straight sides are dovetailed to the walnut drawer front. Each of the five connected surfaces is nailed to the edge of the tulip poplar bottom. Two front-to-back dados on the underside of the bottom slide on two drawer guides nailed into dados in the upper surface of the drawer support shelf. A front to back medial guide is nailed from above to the under surface of the upper case floor and functions to restrict the drawer from tipping when opened. The drawer front, with nailed applied cock beading and barber pole banding perimeter inlay, is face nailed with one central nail to the edge of the bottom.
Label TextThe central North Carolina Piedmont was settled by men and women of many geographic, ethnic, and religions origins. That cultural diversity is reflected in the region’s early furniture. This corner cupboard belongs to an important group of case pieces produced during the late 18th and early 19th centuries by a handful of makers, all connected through their shops and churches. John Swisegood is believed to be the maker of the piece. It features many of the elements seen through the group, including the applied pilasters and rope moldings flanking the upper door and the diagonally carved element below the central finial. Swisegood was influenced by the work of his master, Mordecai Collins, who had arrived in North Carolina from New Market, Virginia, and by Jacob Clodfelter, a North Carolina cabinetmaker whose family had relocated from York, Pennsylvania. Swisegood’s work consequently reflects both the Valley of Virginia and Pennsylvania influences these two men brought from their respective backgrounds.
ProvenanceEx. Coll. MESDA; Miss. Elizabeth Motsinger