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2022-152, Food Safe
Food Safe
2022-152, Food Safe

Food Safe

Dateca. 1810
Attributed to James McCann
Attributed to Jeremiah Evans
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Shenandoah County, New Market
MediumBlack walnut, yellow pine, tulip poplar, and tinned sheet iron
DimensionsOverall: 65 × 38 3/4 × 17 3/4in. (165.1 × 98.4 × 45.1cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund
Object number2022-152
DescriptionAppearance: Tall food safe with rectangular overhanging top with rounded edge over two hinged doors each with three inset punched tin panels with stars, circles, swags, and corner fans; double-beaded moldings frame tin panels; doors have bead around top, outer edges and bottoms; proper left door has oval brass escutcheon and wooden knob beside center tin panel; doors open to reveal three shelves; proper right door has wooden toggle to secure it to center shelf; doors are over two side by side drawers separated by a vertical molded divider; drawers cockbeaded, with single brass bail and oval rosette pull and oval escutcheon; triple beaded molding around edge of skirt on front and sides; four tapered legs, square in cross section; sides of case have three inset punched-tin panels like doors; back constructed with two horizontal floating panels; center tin panel on proper left door has addition of GK/KG punched initials; center tin panel on proper right door has HI punched initials.

Construction
The top-to-bottom stiles are integral with the legs which are tapered below the case. The upper, middle, and lower back rails are tenoned and double pegged to the stiles. Horizontal back panels are chamfered on the back around the edges and set in grooves in the upper, middle and lower back rails and stiles.

Upper and lower side rails are tenoned and double pegged to the stiles. The two middle rails on each side are tenoned and pegged. The upper and medial front rails are tenoned and pegged to the stiles; the lower front rail is only tenoned to the stiles.
Shelf supports are tenoned between the front and back stiles. Shelves, including the bottom, are notched on all corners to accommodate the stiles and nailed to the tops of the shelf supports.

Punched tin panels are held in place with grooved moldings on the front nailed into the edges of the rails and stiles, and lath on the back, nailed into the same on the inside.
The outer drawer guides are tenoned between the front and rear stiles. The drawer supports are nailed to the sides of the guides and to the inside faces of the stiles. The center drawer support (for both drawers) with integral guide is nailed (three nails) to the front of the lower back rail and to the back of the front medial rail. Two thin, square drawer stops per drawer are nailed to the front of the rear lower rail. The drawer divider is tenoned to the top of the lower front rail and the underside of the medial front rail.
A mitered triple bead molding is glued and nailed to the bottom edge of the case around the front and sides.

On the doors, the top and bottom rails are through tenoned and pegged to the stiles and the medial rails are tenoned to the stiles. The pierced tin panels are held in place in the same manner as on the sides. A probably original toggle latch screwed to the rear of the proper right door inner stile secures the door in a groove along the front, center of the middle shelf. An iron lock is attached to the inside of the proper left door inner stile. Door inner stiles are rabbeted in reverse orientation, allowing them to overlap and secure the case when locked.

Top, with rounded moldings mitered and nailed to the front and side edges, is screwed to the case from pockets in the sides (1 each), front top rail (2), and from the rear of the back top rail (2).

Drawers are of standard dovetail construction with bottoms nailed from the underside to the backs. Bottoms are chamfered to fit into dados in the front and sides.

Primary wood is black walnut, with yellow pine drawer bottoms, sides and backs. Case bottom and shelves are tulip poplar. Top is yellow pine with 1” x 1” walnut strip screwed to the back edge, and 1” simi-round mitered walnut molding nailed to the edge of the front and sides.

The oval brass key escutcheons are original. Hinges are replacements, one lock is missing, the others are probable replacements.
Label TextFood safes, ventilated furniture forms for the short-term storage of fresh, recently baked, or cooked food, appeared in Virginia homes from the 17th through the early 20th centuries. The earlier examples often had a textile such as coarse linen applied to the sides to allow for the circulation of air while blocking bugs and rodents from reaching the food. 19th-century safes typically had tin panels punched in decorative patterns that provided the air flow with a firmer barrier to pests. This example is one of the earliest punched-tin safes from the Shenandoah Valley dating to around 1810. Thought by the family to have originally been owned by David and Elizabeth (Pickering) Harrison who married around 1800 and lived just south of New Market in Rockingham County, Virginia, the safe descended through the family to their great-great grandson, John Hollingsworth Byrd Jr. A related example has tins punched in the same pattern but with the addition of the initials “JM,” likely for cabinetmaker James McCann of New Market.

The patterns found on the tins of 19th century food safes often represent regional decorative choices and can be used today to identify where a safe might have been made. While some tins have punched designs of urns with flowers or depictions of famous people, like George Washington, others like this example have stars, fans, and geometric shapes. While somewhat generic, these motifs were popular in the area of New Market and Rockingham County, Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg’s Greene County, Tennessee food safe (2015.2000.1) has tins punched with the architectural arches, stars, hearts, and four-leaf flowers popular in that region. The makers derived these patterns from various sources including coins, stamps, quilts, pressed glass, inlaid furniture designs, and nature. While likely made by James McCann, the initials “GK” and “HI” appear to have been added to two of the tins of this safe (ie the initials were not part of the original design). Since these initials do not correlate to the names of family members, they likely were individuals associated with the safe’s wooden and tin construction.

InscribedModern label stuck to inner proper right drawer side "WALNUT PIE SAFE/ FROM HOME OF/ DAVID HARRISON & ELIZABETH/ PICKERING HARRISON./ D.H.- born 1775 DIED 1851 - M1799/ PARENTS OF GRANDFATHER J.H./ b-1800/ -C-/ LATE 1700"
MarkingsCenter tin panel on proper left door has addition of GK/KG and GK punched initials. (G might be a C)
Center tin panel on proper right door has HI or KI punched initials.
ProvenanceDescended in the Byrd/Harrison family of Rockingham County, Virginia. A modern label inside the drawer, presumably written by John Hollingsworth Sr. (1897-1975) or a sibling due to indicated family connections, states that the original owners were David Harrison (1775-1851) and Elizabeth (Pickering) Harrison (1781-1851). Presumed line of descent: to son John Harrison (1800-1880) and Barbara Katherine (Hollingsworth) Harrison (1817-1890); to daughter Nancy “Nannie” Gordon Harrison Byrd (1860-1937) and Joseph Clinton Byrd (1860-1958) to son John Hollingsworth Byrd Sr. (1897-1975) and Rosalie Teresa (Brock) Byrd; to son John Hollingsworth Byrd Jr (1932-2005) and Joan Elaine S. (Ellis) Byrd (1935-2022); to auction from estate of John H. and Joan S. Byrd, Harrisonburg, VA.