Lot Essay
The paint-decorated furniture of Pennsylvania's Mahantago Valley area, a twelve mile dale centered by the Schwaben Creek joining Northumberland and Schuykill Counties east of the Susquehanna River, comprises some of the most regionally recognizable, even iconic, of Pennsylvania's vernacular traditions. This furniture, the second distinctive group of paint-decorated case forms associated with the area, is characterized by a more English "Sheraton," or late Federal, case painted in a solid green, salmon or blue ground and further embellished with a variety of traditional Germanic decoration such as yellow, green, white, blue and red painted rosettes, butterflies, tulips, urns issuing flowers, birds and angels as well as geometric motifs. The resulting forms, a purely American blend of co-existing cultures, was most popular between 1827 and 1841, and is embodied in the chest of drawers illustrated here. To date, approximately fifty-seven forms have been documented to this group, with several examples identified by their original owners names and dates of manufacture/presentation worked into their decoration. Analysis of the names on these forms in period church, tax and census records trace the original owners to a more finite locale along the Schwaben Creek and suggest that many of the original owners may be associated with the parish surrounding Himmel Church.1
Genealogical research on the forms identified with a name and date revealed that the individual identified by the object was typically an adolescent at the time of the date on the form. This fact has suggested that the forms were created as a rite of passage, a gift to a young person as they entered adulthood in which they could store necessary items collected for their future life as an independent adult in their own home.2 Once married and established in a new home, the form would serve as both a necessary and significant utilitarian object within the domestic sphere, as well as a memento of youth. It has been further suggested, that a chest of drawers, such as the example seen here, was the favored form to give a young girl, while a slant-front desk was the preferable choice for a young man.3 The examples identified with the name of an individual also show that many of the recipients were related by blood, marriage or geographic proximity.
While the construction of a small group of Braun family chests has been attributed to Michael and Johannes Braun, and the Pali and Juli Drion chest of drawers have been attributed to Johannes Mayer,4 ongoing research has yet to identify definitively all the individuals who might have constructed these objects. On the basis of Benno M. Forman's analysis of the five Mahantango Valley paint-decorated case forms at Winterthur in which he deduced evidence of at least two seperate cabinetmakers,5 as well as visible differences in the case appearance of several more known and published forms, it can reasonably be extrapolated that other still unidentified case manufacturers existed. Period tax and probate records show both that at least forty-five carpenters and joiners worked in the area between 1795 and 1840,6 and that almost all the households whose names appear on a paint-decorated form owned various woodworking tools as well, though no tool collection was so large as to suggest anything more than necessary carpentry. Oral histories of immediate descendants of these forms have confirmed this, and have further stated that where one individual might have had only the tools to create the case, a nearby neighbor or associate might have had the necessary tools to complete the form.7 While this cultural memory alludes to a complex cabinetmaking puzzle, it also suggest an extraordinary level of community involvement in the creation of these forms as well.
Similarly, the paint decorators of the Mahantango Valley remain largely anonymous as well. With decorative motifs derived from printed Geburts und Taufscheine, the most likely community members responsible for the decoration of these forms include local schoolmasters and clergy. Several schoolmasters have been suggested as possible decorators,8 in addition to which Weiser and Sullivan's re-analysis of the group established twelve different hands in the paint decoration of the forms surveyed.9 Identified as Decorators A - L, these decorations were distinguished according to preferred motif and manner of execution. Accordingly, the chest of drawers illustrated here has been attributed by Weiser and Sullivan to Decorator F, whose singular lack of rosettes and preference for the quarter fan motif highly abstracted butterflies appear to be distinguishing features. Like the majority of other paint-decorators in the Mahantango Valley, Decorator F shared a preference for executed free-standing and with seven segments, as well as a for a geometric star motif; the example illustrated here shows the important inclusion of a segmented four-point compass star, a motif not commonly ascribed to Decorator F's repetoire, but common to at least three other paint decorators. This unusual addition may suggest that paint decorators, like other vernacular artists, were aware of and borrowed freely from each other's work. The chest of drawers illustrated here is the only Mahantago Valley paint-decorated case form attributed to Decorator F.
Prior to 1926, knowledge and appreciation of these disctinctive forms was largely limited to the area in which they originated. With his 1926 advertisement in Antiques, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania antiques dealer A.H. Rice introduced the idigenous arts of the Mahantango Valley to the rapidly expanding community of American decorative arts scholars and collectors. The leading object of Rice's advertisement was the Jacob Maser slant-front desk now in the collection at Winterthur. The attention Rice drew to these forms nonetheless influenced the interests and acquisitions of several important early connoisseurs of American decorative arts toward the Mahantago Valley, in "remote sections of Pennsylvania." The early Mahantango Valley paint-decorated furniture aquisitions of collectors such as Henry Francis du Pont, Titus Geesey, George Horace Lorimer, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Henry Barnes, Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, and Howard and Jean Lipman now form core collection examples at Winterthur, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center at Colonial Williamsburg, the Barnes Foundation, and the Museum of American Folk Art. Three examples of Mahantango Valley paint-decorated chests of drawers with pressed glass pulls are presently known, including one in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, one in the collection of the Barnes Foundation and one in a private collection illustrated in Reed, Decorated Furniture of the Mahantango Valley (Lewisburg, Pa., 1987), p.24, plate 7; the example illustrated here is the fourth. A chest of drawers formerly owned by Effie Thixton Arthur and now in the collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center at Colonial Williamsburg has swelled-cylinder feet similar to the example offered here.
1. Weiser and Sullivan, "Decorated Furniture of the Mahantango Valley," Antiques (May 1973), p.932-939.
2. Scott Swank, "Proxemic Patterns," Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1983), p.40.
3. ibid.
4. Henry Reed, Decorated Furniture of the Mahantango Valley (Lewisburg, Pa.:Bucknell University, 1987) pp.35-41.
5. Benno M. Forman, "German Influences in Pennsylvania Furniture," Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983), pp.132-134.
6. Forman, p.131.
7. Reed, p.27.
8. ibid, p.41-55.
9. Weiser and Sullivan, "Decorated Furniture of the Schwaben Creek Valley," Ebbes fer Alle-Ebber, Ebbes fer Dich: Something for Everyone, Something for You, Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society, vol. 14 (Breinigsville, Pa., 1980), pp.344-345.
Genealogical research on the forms identified with a name and date revealed that the individual identified by the object was typically an adolescent at the time of the date on the form. This fact has suggested that the forms were created as a rite of passage, a gift to a young person as they entered adulthood in which they could store necessary items collected for their future life as an independent adult in their own home.2 Once married and established in a new home, the form would serve as both a necessary and significant utilitarian object within the domestic sphere, as well as a memento of youth. It has been further suggested, that a chest of drawers, such as the example seen here, was the favored form to give a young girl, while a slant-front desk was the preferable choice for a young man.3 The examples identified with the name of an individual also show that many of the recipients were related by blood, marriage or geographic proximity.
While the construction of a small group of Braun family chests has been attributed to Michael and Johannes Braun, and the Pali and Juli Drion chest of drawers have been attributed to Johannes Mayer,4 ongoing research has yet to identify definitively all the individuals who might have constructed these objects. On the basis of Benno M. Forman's analysis of the five Mahantango Valley paint-decorated case forms at Winterthur in which he deduced evidence of at least two seperate cabinetmakers,5 as well as visible differences in the case appearance of several more known and published forms, it can reasonably be extrapolated that other still unidentified case manufacturers existed. Period tax and probate records show both that at least forty-five carpenters and joiners worked in the area between 1795 and 1840,6 and that almost all the households whose names appear on a paint-decorated form owned various woodworking tools as well, though no tool collection was so large as to suggest anything more than necessary carpentry. Oral histories of immediate descendants of these forms have confirmed this, and have further stated that where one individual might have had only the tools to create the case, a nearby neighbor or associate might have had the necessary tools to complete the form.7 While this cultural memory alludes to a complex cabinetmaking puzzle, it also suggest an extraordinary level of community involvement in the creation of these forms as well.
Similarly, the paint decorators of the Mahantango Valley remain largely anonymous as well. With decorative motifs derived from printed Geburts und Taufscheine, the most likely community members responsible for the decoration of these forms include local schoolmasters and clergy. Several schoolmasters have been suggested as possible decorators,8 in addition to which Weiser and Sullivan's re-analysis of the group established twelve different hands in the paint decoration of the forms surveyed.9 Identified as Decorators A - L, these decorations were distinguished according to preferred motif and manner of execution. Accordingly, the chest of drawers illustrated here has been attributed by Weiser and Sullivan to Decorator F, whose singular lack of rosettes and preference for the quarter fan motif highly abstracted butterflies appear to be distinguishing features. Like the majority of other paint-decorators in the Mahantango Valley, Decorator F shared a preference for executed free-standing and with seven segments, as well as a for a geometric star motif; the example illustrated here shows the important inclusion of a segmented four-point compass star, a motif not commonly ascribed to Decorator F's repetoire, but common to at least three other paint decorators. This unusual addition may suggest that paint decorators, like other vernacular artists, were aware of and borrowed freely from each other's work. The chest of drawers illustrated here is the only Mahantago Valley paint-decorated case form attributed to Decorator F.
Prior to 1926, knowledge and appreciation of these disctinctive forms was largely limited to the area in which they originated. With his 1926 advertisement in Antiques, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania antiques dealer A.H. Rice introduced the idigenous arts of the Mahantango Valley to the rapidly expanding community of American decorative arts scholars and collectors. The leading object of Rice's advertisement was the Jacob Maser slant-front desk now in the collection at Winterthur. The attention Rice drew to these forms nonetheless influenced the interests and acquisitions of several important early connoisseurs of American decorative arts toward the Mahantago Valley, in "remote sections of Pennsylvania." The early Mahantango Valley paint-decorated furniture aquisitions of collectors such as Henry Francis du Pont, Titus Geesey, George Horace Lorimer, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Henry Barnes, Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, and Howard and Jean Lipman now form core collection examples at Winterthur, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center at Colonial Williamsburg, the Barnes Foundation, and the Museum of American Folk Art. Three examples of Mahantango Valley paint-decorated chests of drawers with pressed glass pulls are presently known, including one in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, one in the collection of the Barnes Foundation and one in a private collection illustrated in Reed, Decorated Furniture of the Mahantango Valley (Lewisburg, Pa., 1987), p.24, plate 7; the example illustrated here is the fourth. A chest of drawers formerly owned by Effie Thixton Arthur and now in the collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center at Colonial Williamsburg has swelled-cylinder feet similar to the example offered here.
1. Weiser and Sullivan, "Decorated Furniture of the Mahantango Valley," Antiques (May 1973), p.932-939.
2. Scott Swank, "Proxemic Patterns," Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1983), p.40.
3. ibid.
4. Henry Reed, Decorated Furniture of the Mahantango Valley (Lewisburg, Pa.:Bucknell University, 1987) pp.35-41.
5. Benno M. Forman, "German Influences in Pennsylvania Furniture," Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983), pp.132-134.
6. Forman, p.131.
7. Reed, p.27.
8. ibid, p.41-55.
9. Weiser and Sullivan, "Decorated Furniture of the Schwaben Creek Valley," Ebbes fer Alle-Ebber, Ebbes fer Dich: Something for Everyone, Something for You, Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society, vol. 14 (Breinigsville, Pa., 1980), pp.344-345.