Images(4)

Corner Cupboard

DateCupboard: 1775-1820, Paint: 1980s

Maker Unidentified

OriginAmerica, Mid-Atlantic or Southeast

MediumYellow pine, modern paint, and brass

DimensionsOverall: 40 × 33 × 26in. (101.6 × 83.8 × 66cm)

Credit LineGift of an Anonymous Donor

Object number2021.2000.2(S)

DescriptionHanging corner cupboard; molded cornice and base molding around front and canted short corners; raised panel door hinged on proper left with scratch bead around door opening, thumbnail molding around inner edges of door stiles and rails; painted white on moldings, blue on front and canted corners; door rails and stiles painted red; raised panel painted white around chamfered edge, blue in center with blue, red, and black corner fans with scalloped edge to fan with white arc outlining perimeter of fan and white fylflot on black circle edged in red center. Brass H hinges, brass oval stamped escutcheon, iron lock, and brass knob (probably added) on door.
Label TextThis late-18th century corner cupboard was painted in the 1980s to resemble the work of Johannes Spitler of Shenandoah County, Virginia. The painted decoration was done for a private owner in order to give the flavor of Spitler's work but with modern paints and pigments and using some motifs and techniques that diverged from those known to have been used by Spitler. Despite these efforts at transparency, the knowledge of who painted the cupboard and when was lost as the cupboard was sold, leading to a misidentification of the cupboard as a period example of Johannes Spitler's work. Paint analysis done by Colonial Williamsburg in 2021 revealed the presence of titanium white, a 20th century pigment unavailable in Spitler's time, rather than the white lead pigment used by Spitler. Other details that diverge from Sptiler's techniques and designs include the scalloped edge of the corner fans and a fylfot defined by ovoid curves rather than the traditional half circles.

The last owners of this cupboard donated it to Colonial Wiliamsburg so that others might learn from this example and experience. Identification of painted objects as period or non-period work relies on both a close examination and comparison of an object to the known period techniques and motifs, in this case those of Johannes Spitler, as well as the microscopic analysis and idenfification of pigments. A close examination of painted details on this cupboard and the Spitler chests and clock in the Colonial Williamsburg collection 1995-94, 1990.2000.1, and 1973.2000.3 a&b provide an excellent comparison revealing the differences between Spitler's work and that of a 20th century decorative painter imitating his style.
Provenance(possibly) Donald Donahue, Easton and Oxford, Maryland and Falls Church, Virginia; (known provenance follows:) Howard Clayton, Yorktown or Petersburg, Virginia; ca. 1984 David Schorsch, Greenwich, Connecticut; 1984 Collection of Ralph O. Esmerian, New York, NY; American Antiques, Inc., Woodbury, Connecticut; ca. 2002 private collector; 2020 anonymous.