The early Colonial style
(17th Century)
History and Illustrations
When the two earliest American colonies were founded, Jamestown (1607) and Plymouth (1620), James I (1603-1625) was the reigning monarch in England. For this reason, the term Jacobean is sometimes used to describe the earliest American furniture. However, because this earliest type of furniture is derived from a combination of several earlier design sources, I will use the term "Early Colonial" to describe this period.
The Renaissance influence
At the end of the 16th century, northern Europe was just emerging from the Middle Ages. The importation of Flemish pattern books and the immigration of Flemish-Huguenot craftsmen began to bring the influence of Italian Renaissance design to England. As this new style was introduced, basic Renaissance elements began to appear in English furniture. Heavy, turned baluster supports, flattened bun feet, and arcaded panels replaced the traditional medieval linen fold patterns, although paneled construction described below remained in use. These elements of design and construction were then transplanted to America.
Panel construction
General features of early Colonial furniture
Because it is heavy, durable, and well suited to the massive, rectilinear character of such furniture -and because it was widely available in great quantities, oak was the chief wood used in both England and America during the 17th century. Ash and maple were also used because both woods are easily turned and whittled, making them suitable for the varieties of rounded
forms found in this period. Although little evidence survives today, much early colonial furniture was originally painted.
Rounded shapes turned on the lathe provided an important decorative element in early colonial furniture forms. Turned balusters, spindles, and bun feet, formed in a variety of shapes, appeared frequently on case furniture. Split spindles were created by gluing two blocks together with a thin strip of wood between the blocks. After the blocks were turned, the strip of wood was knocked out, leaving two half (or "split") spindles which could be applied to case furniture.
Shallow carved geometric panels were also used as decorative elements. In fact, paneled construction was widely used in early colonialAmerica. A medieval development, these inset panels were fitted into slots within an overall frame so that they could expand and contract with changes in humidity and temperature. The technique of creating joints with mortise and tenon was widely used in 17th-century furniture. With this technique, a hole, usually square or rectangular, was chiseled into one member and a tongue shaped to fit this hole was chiseled into the other. A peg was then placed through both pieces to secure them together, forming the joint.
Several types of iron hinges and lock plates were held in place by wrought iron nails in much 17th-century case furniture. And movable drawers, developed in Renaissance Italy, also appeared in 17th-century American furniture.
Early Colonial furniture forms
Not many pieces of American furniture have survived from the 17th century, and much that presently exists was heavily restored in the early 20th century, when this style was very popular. Of the surviving pieces, most come from Massachusetts, but examples are also known from New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia.
Early colonial chairs came in a number of varieties. Massive turned armchairs represented symbols of authority in the household. Slat-back chairs -with plank, splint, or rush seats -were introduced in the 17th century, and variants are still made today.
Plank seat Splint seat Rush seat
The wainscot chair, with a plank seat, contained a paneled back that was often carved with dates, initials, and geometric, floral, and strap work details. Derivative of the English Cromwellian or farthingale chair, leather-covered chairs were also made at this time; the rectangular upholstered back and seat were separated by an open space. This form, upholstered with leather or turkey work that was held in place with brass-headed nails, was expanded to create a couch that could seat two people.
Also related to the chair, the joint stool was used both as a seat and as a table. Ruggedly constructed, the stool had a rectangular top supported by four turned legs connected by stretchers. The "form," an expanded version of the joint stool, was used as a bench at long tables.
Early colonial beds, extremely rare today, contained turned elements similar to those of the turned chair. Beds for babies -wicker cradles, in fact -were also in use at the time.
Trestle tables were derived from medieval forms and often of monumental proportions. Two or three stanchions, connected by a stretcher, supported the top, which was often detachable, so that the table could be easily disassembled. X-shaped supports, placed at either end, were used in a variant of this table. The draw-top table, rarely seen today, contained flat leaves that could be drawn at either end from under the tabletop so that the table's size could double. Also popular was the multiple purpose chair-table, with a convertible top.
Derivative of the Renaissance Italian cassane(or dower chest), the lift-top chest-quite common in the 17th century- was often of paneled construction. In some instances, the panels were flat-carved; in others, plain. Other chests contained movable drawers below the lift-top section. A group of these chests, featuring sunflower and tulip carving on the inset panels, has been identified with the Hartford Wethersfield area of Connecticut. Chests from the region around Hadley, Massachusetts, farther up the Connecticut River, are related to the Hartford-Wethersfield chests, but they display less carved detail.
True chests of drawers, as we know them today, began to be made near the end of the century and often rested on bun feet. The cupboard was the most important type of early colonial storage furniture, containing shelves for folded fabric and clothing, this form was marked by strong architectural lines. A surprisingly sophisticated piece for the 17th century was the chamber table, supported on turned legs and containing a lift top and drawers. The most imposing pieces with drawers, though, were the court and press cupboards. Used for storage and for display of important possessions, the court cupboard contained a cabinet with doors above and an open shelf below. The press cupboard contained cabinets above and below. To simulate the rich effect of ebony, which was popular in Europe at the time, the ornamentation was often painted black (ebonized). Split spindles were also frequently ebonized, as were bosses or jewels (small, oval pieces of wood).
Identifying early Colonial furniture
Because documentary evidence is scant, dating furniture from this period is especially difficult. The few pieces that survive provide little more than the broadest outline of regional differences and techniques of special joiners.
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