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High-post bedstead

Date1790-1820

OriginAmerica, North Carolina (probably)

MediumTulip poplar and iron.

DimensionsOH. 87 1/2"; OW. 54"; OD. 75 1/8".

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1956-567

DescriptionAppearance: High-post bedstead with peaked headboard, half circular cut-out on either side where board meets rear leg; more gradually peaked foot board; posts squared where they meet the rails, tapered and chamfered above and below with lamb's tongue terminals to squared section; rectilinear rails with central rope channel molding, ovolo beaded at top and bottom.

Construction: The rails are tenoned into the posts. Instead of being pinned or secured with bed bolts, the frame is held together by the ropes laced through the rails to support the mattress. The foot and head boards are double-tenoned into the posts, with the upper tenons on the head board shouldered. The iron curtain rods are supported on L-shaped hooks driven into the posts near the top.

Materials: Tulip poplar bed frame; iron pintles and rods.
Label TextMany middling householders desired the warmth and protection from insects afforded by a curtained high post bedstead but were unwilling or unable to pay for a costly, fully dressed bed of mahogany or walnut. In other settings, such as taverns and the lesser bedchambers of gentry houses, beds with curtains were customary, although less costly examples were acceptable. To fulfill these needs, high post bedsteads made of cheaper woods stained to resemble mahogany were available in some numbers. Most urban furniture makers offered both expensive and economical bedsteads. In 1803, Norfolk cabinetmaker James Woodward (w. 1792-1839) billed Surry County planter John Hartwell Cocke for a "Mahogany Carvd. Beadstd" priced at $33.33 and "two Staind Beadstds" valued at only $15 apiece. The latter were almost certainly made of maple, birch, or another less valuable wood. Rural woodworkers also produced quantities of "Staind" and painted bedsteads for local customers.

This bedstead is typical of the less grand examples. Made entirely of inexpensive tulip poplar, almost every component was produced with an eye toward economy. Instead of being turned on a lathe, the posts were sawn to size and then chamfered with a draw knife or resawn with a jig, while moldings were largely omitted from the head and foot boards. The dozens of individually turned pins necessary for the rope mattress supports on more costly beds were omitted. In their place, a series of horizontal holes was drilled through the rails to receive the rope. It is unlikely that a cornice or other ornamental superstructure was used. Even the cost of the iron bed bolts was avoided: the bedstead is held together only by the tight roping of the rails.

In keeping with the modest nature of the wooden components, curtains for bedsteads like this one were inexpensive. They were frequently made of pattern-woven cotton or linen textiles like the "red strip'd," "striped Holland," and "blue Check" curtains on beds at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg in 1771. Although the simple rods that supported these hangings were commonplace in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, few have survived. Remarkably, two of the original curtain rods and several of the hooks that support them remain with the present bed. Made of wrought iron with forged eyes at either end, the rods hang on large L-shaped iron pintles or hooks driven into the posts a few inches from the top. Additional evidence of early textile elements on this bed is a series of small square nail holes along the top edges of the rails and on the posts at rail level. These holes indicate that the bed was fitted with a base valance nailed directly to the frame. The relatively high cost of even the simplest textiles and the purely decorative function of base valences suggest that the bed was owned by a person of at least moderate wealth.

InscribedNone
MarkingsThe posts and rails are marked with Roman numerals.
ProvenanceCWF purchased the bedstead in 1956 from Willis Stallings, a High Point, N. C., antiques dealer who specialized in southern furniture.