Corner cupboard

Date1770-1790

MediumAll components of yellow pine.

DimensionsOH: 89 3/4", OW: 41 1/2", OD: 21"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1965-160

DescriptionAppearance: single unit cupboard with angled side stiles; upper section with three shaped shelves covered by single rectangular glazed door, top row of lights arched; lower section with single straight shelf covered by two doors, each with two raised panels; edges of upper and lower doors beaded; applied pilaster on each side stile, each with shaped capital, fluted column, and raised panel pedestal; cornice, waist molding, base molding, and straight bracket feet applied to front assembly and side stiles; repainted in original colors of white upper section interior, blue exterior, and black feet.

Construction: The cupboard is a single unit. The joining of its front assembly, angled side stiles, top board, bottom board, and shelves follows the standard pattern. The three-sided back consists of planed, lap-joined vertical boards attached with large rosehead nails to the rear edges of the top, middle, and bottom boards and to the rear edges of the shelves with smaller wrought sprigs. The front stiles, side stiles, and center backboard extend to the floor to serve as feet. The fluted pilasters are nailed to the side stiles. Their shaped capitals and raised-panel pedestals are separate elements. The pedestals are carved from solid blocks rather than joined. The cornice, waist molding, base molding, and bracket feet are face-nailed to the front assembly, side stiles, and pilasters. All door joints, including those for the muntins on the upper door, are through-tenoned and pinned.
Label TextSeparated from the mainland by the Chesapeake Bay, the Eastern Shore of Virginia was a relatively isolated, largely rural area in the eighteenth century. Few professional cabinetmakers resided there, so much of the finer furniture used in gentry residences was imported from Virginia towns on the western side of the bay, from Philadelphia or other northern cities, and from seaports in Great Britain. Other furniture needs were fulfilled by finish carpenters who produced significant numbers of straightforward case forms including "blanket" chests, clothespresses, china presses, and corner cupboards. They also built and trimmed out the paneled houses that still dot the Eastern Shore. Not surprisingly, their furniture echoed local architectural paneling.

Tall corner cupboards offered ample opportunities for architectural ornamentation. In addition to the usual applied moldings and raised paneling, the most elaborate Shore cupboards, including this one, feature pairs of highly developed, somewhat eccentric pilasters. Many of the pilasters have pedestals with raised panels that are carved rather than joined; some are topped by idiosyncratic, stepped-back capitals. Both are seen here. The CWF cupboard also has a complex cornice with dentil molding and a glazed door with arched lights at the top. Although embellishments of this sort served no structural purpose, they were amenities for which some householders willingly paid extra. All glazed corner cupboards fulfilled a basic storage function, but many were also designed to exhibit the owner's collection of stylish dining utensils. Enrichment of the cupboards in which these goods were housed lent such assemblies an even more imposing appearance and made a nonverbal statement about the owner's taste and position in society.

While a few Eastern Shore corner cupboards were executed in black walnut, the vast majority were made of yellow pine or other cheaper woods. Almost invariably, pine cupboards were painted in two or more colors, most commonly a blue ground with the moldings, beveled edges of panels, and other details delineated in white (see CWF accession 1968-293). Less often, cupboards were polychromed. On CWF accession 1987-718 the ground is painted blue and the components are highlighted in white, green, black, and orange. The paint scheme of the present cupboard, restored on the basis of microanalysis, now exhibits the standard blue body but lacks the white detailing. This color scheme is curious in light of the cupboard's ambitious architectural ornaments, but it may represent the specific orders of the initial owner. The black feet were probably intended to blend with the black or dark brown architectural baseboards then common in the Chesapeake.

The origin of the two-tone paint treatments on Eastern Shore case pieces is unknown, but, like the paneled faces of the objects, the paint scheme probably mirrors conventional period architectural practices. The use of contrasting paint colors on beveled panel edges was not unusual in the eighteenth century. Examples known from Maryland to South Carolina include the 1760s nursery wing at Mount Airy plantation in Richmond County, Virginia, where the original paint surfaces were exposed until 1986. The paneled soffits, doors, and other elements of the stair and passage featured stiles and rails of one color, panel faces of another, and bevels of a third. A pair of paneled exterior window shutters from the ca. 1740 David Ramsey House in Charleston, South Carolina, documents a similar treatment. Now in the collection of the Historic Charleston Foundation, the shutters retain their second eighteenth-century paint scheme wherein the panel bevels were colored light gray and the remaining surfaces were a darker color.

InscribedNone
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceThe cupboard was purchased from antiques dealer John Walton of New York City in 1965. Walton reported having acquired the object on Staten Island. No earlier history is known.