Cradle

Date1750-1800

MediumWhite pine, oak, traces of blue paint

DimensionsOH: 16 5/8"; OW: 15 3/4"; OL: 34"

Credit LineGift of W. Barnabas McHenry.

Object number1985-91

DescriptionAppearance: headboard, footboard, and sides flare outwards at top and are rounded on top edges; headboard and footboard arched; sides straight at headboard, curve downward near center, and extend straight to footboard; rockers protrude on either side; rockers braced by one, central, square board with chamfered bottom corners.

Construction: all elements white pine except as noted; headboard and footboard dovetailed to sides; one bottom board nailed to headboard, footboard, and sides; one square oak board through tenoned at either end into an oak rocker; board and rockers glued and nailed to cradle bottom.
ProvenanceTradition of ownership in the family of Mercy Bardwell Smead, born in 1798, who married Samuel Fisk in 1824 and lived in Shelburne, Massachusetts.
Used by McHenry family as a wood box in the twentieth century.