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17. Chair, Arm. Circa 1880–1915. Wood, cherry; cloth upholstery; metal springs [Colonial Revival style] Acc. No. 91M.19.10
Description:
Metal casters on all four legs. Front legs are round with turned elements.
Square back legs. Serpentine seat rails with a type of dentil molding in
the center as a decoration. Upholstered seat. Arm rests supported by six
square (not turned) spindles, which in turn support a gallery with an "S"
scroll on its side and four small turned spindles. The end of the armrest
has a turned conical decoration which is also used at the ends of the crest
rail. The back of the chair has five large square spindles supporting a
gallery with seven small turned spindles. The crest rail has realistic
relief carved decorative leaf motifs (ivy?) along its top. The upholstery
is likely a replacement, circa 1940s. Clear finish on the wood has darkened
with age and use.
Discussion: Although the design of this chair is original, it owes something to the Windsor chair of the American colonial period. At the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876, colonial items became popular, and since then Colonial Revival furniture design has been popular. At times the revival style imitated the real colonial styles very closely, but more often the elements of colonial style were freely, and often very imaginatively, adapted to modern usage (think of a Queen Anne style radio cabinet for example). This particular piece was owned by members of the Lewis family of bankers in Tallahassee near the beginning of the century. When the first owners sold their house, members of the Choate family in town then purchased the parlor suite that included this piece, and it remained in the family until its donation in 1991. Not currently on exhibit.
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18. Desk of Florida Governor William S. Jennings. 1902. Wood, mahogany; cherry and birch secondary woods; metal, cast iron and nickel hardware [Vernacular with elements of Arts & Crafts/Mission style and Art Nouveau style] Acc. No. 91M.72.1
Description: "C" scroll type roll-top desk, twin pedestals,
tambour top closure. Sides and back of desk have in-set panels with projecting
molding around each panel and veneer panels inside frame. Front of desk
has five drawers in each pedestal and a single central drawer. Pulls are
wood with decorative Art Nouveau stylized vegetal motifs carved around
their top and sides. Drawers are side-hung, and have machine-cut dovetails.
Outside "C" scrolls have elaborate decorative concentric vegetal
carving. Desk top has plain black imitation leather surface, probably added
on top of original surface in 1979. Above writing surface is a low section
of pigeon holes and book-sized slots. Brass lock on center drawer and center
bottom of tambour. Large nickel-plated plaque was attached to the left
inside of the desk in 1905 when the object was given to Florida Governor
William S. Jennings.
Discussion: The desk was originally purchased by the legislature to furnish the newly expanded capitol in 1902. Governor William S. Jennings used the desk for most of his 1901 to 1904 term of office. Upon the inauguration of his successor, Napoleon B. Broward in January 1905, Jennings staff and friends acquired this desk (details are now missing on exactly what happened; a very similar desk, probably the same model, appears in later photographs of Governor Carey Hardee in the 1920s), placed the plaque, and gave him the desk. It passed down through the Jennings family until the governor's granddaughter generously loaned, then donated the desk to the Old Capitol, where it once again occupies its original place as the centerpiece of the restored Governor's Suite.
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19. Cabinet, File. Circa 1890–1910. Wood, oak; ; metal hardware. [Arts & Crafts/Mission style] Acc. No. 91M.73.1
Description:
Modular filing cases composed of four filing units, a top cap, and seven
vertical pull-out drawers in each unit. Each unit and the top cap has a
½-inch wide metal band horizontally across it to strengthen the
units when stacked. Several drawer fronts still have original filing labels
attached, indicating they were used by state government. The base of this
stack is a reproduction (1991) as are eight of the file drawer fronts.
Medium dark finish to wood. Inscription on front of top cap reads: "Globe."
Discussion: Difficult as it now is to imagine, state government used a lot less paper at the turn of the century than we do now. In fact, our entire culture, now overrun with photocopies, laserprints, and paper of all kinds, used relatively very little paper in 1900. These file cabinets would have been sufficient to keep the records of many offices at that time. The simplicity and plainness of the Mission style at the turn of the century appealed greatly to furniture makers who manufactured office supplies. They immediately adopted the style wholeheartedly and used those designs for most of the first fifty years of the century. This artifact is on exhibit in the Governor's Suite in the Old Capitol.
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20. Revolving Bookcase, Wood, oak; metal hardware [Arts & Crafts/Mission style] Acc. No. 92M.26.1
Description:
Cage-like set of four shelves mounted on a central cylindrical core. Core
sits on an "X" shaped base and legs. Sides have four vertical
strips of wood each to hold books as with a bookend. Top overhangs. Decorative
headed nails attach the vertical strips to the shelves. Legs are on casters.
Discussion: The drawback to this design, of course, is that if you take a lot of books off one side of a full case, it will overbalance and come crashing down. This revolving bookcase came from the Florida Supreme Court, which may well have used it in the Old Capitol at the turn of the century, although records for this piece go back only as far as 1912. With the documented history of this piece in Florida government, the Museum of Florida History was pleased and honored that the Justices allowed it to be returned to the Old Capitol for exhibit in the Governor's Suite restoration, where it remains today.
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21. Library Table. Circa 1906–20. Wood, oak and unidentified veneer and marquetry. [Arts & Crafts/Mission style] Acc. No. 82.40.00.093
Description:
Four flat board-shaped legs set at 45 degrees to the table top's edges
and joined by an "X" stretcher. Legs have a complex design of
solids and voids in marquetry using abstract geometric designs. Table top
is octagonal and has a skirting around the four long sides. Most surfaces
are veneered. This piece appears in the 1906 Shop of the Crafters catalogue,
page 10, #355. Paper label glued to underside of table top reads: "Shop
of the Crafters at Cincinnati / Oscar Onken Co. sole Owners" with
the image of a candle lantern in the center.
Discussion: Florida Governor George Drew's son, Frank Drew, was an entrepreneur and railroad developer in the early 20th century. This table, a very fashionable piece, probably furnished his home library in Lake City. All the other pieces in the library matched this one in style and probably were bought as a suite. The Shop of the Crafters, although not nearly as well known today as Gustav Stickley and some other manufacturers of Mission style furniture, was well known at the turn of the century and may deserve more recognition for its original designs than the company has so far received.
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22. Sideboard. Circa 1875–90. Wood, walnut and walnut veneer; poplar secondary wood; metal, brass hardware [Renaissance Revival style] Acc. No. 82.40.00.076
Description:
Carcass is set on double wheel casters with applied moldings around bottom.
Shallow drawer center bottom has two cast bail pulls. Above this are two
large doors with wood escutcheons on proper right door and metal lock on
left. Frame and panel construction. Flanking the center compartment are
two compartments with doors, one on top of the other and on each side of
the center. Above this are three side by side shallow drawers with matching
pulls. Central drawer is lined with purple felt cloth for silver flatware
storage. Top of carcass has veined red and white marble surface. Elaborate
top half of piece features three mirrored panels flanked on each end by
display shelves set on arches and columns. There is an elaborate crest
above with arched and pillared gallery and incised and shaped wood panels.
A clear, natural resin varnish over the entire piece has darkened with
age.
Discussion: A fine example of the florid and elaborate Victorian style popular after the Civil War, this artifact once furnished the formal dining room of Florida Governor George Drew's mansion at Ellaville along the Suwannee River. Although the name Renaissance Revival might seem to refer to a form of calm classical design, this was an original Victorian style that really did not revive any historic style. While there were expensive and fashionable cabinet shops that custom designed and built furniture in this style, Governor Drew's sideboard was purchased from a factory and probably was designed by a now-anonymous shop foreman in imitation of the high-style pieces.
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23. Chair. 1884. Cow horn; wood; cloth upholstery. [Exotic or Novelty furniture] Acc. No. 29995
Description:
Legs and arms use cow horn as a novelty material. Round seat and skirt
are completely upholstered in dark reddish-purple plush, as is back. A
cloth strip, now filed with the catalogue card but once attached to underside
of chair reads: "F P Bush / Upholsterer Leominster / Mass / 1884"
and "Georgetown / So. Ca." Currently on exhibit in the Collections
Gallery of the Main Gallery.
Discussion: Such intentionally unusual furniture was made in the western United States for the most part. Records indicate that Boston was, in a small way, an eastern center of this "rustic" type of furniture design. Elk antlers and untrimmed logs also were used during this same period to make novelty chairs.
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24. Chair, Barber's. Circa 1880–1920. Wood, walnut; cloth upholstery; metal hardware [Vernacular style] Acc. No. 46482
Description:
This occupational chair has two separate parts, a reclining chair and a
foot rest. All four legs of the chair have ogee curves and are connected
by curved front-to-back stretchers. The center of the chair below the seat
contains a cast iron mechanism, with teeth and a long foot pedal to manually
recline the chair's seat and back and hold them in place. Arm supports
each have a curved swan neck and beaked head. Wood arm rests have upholstered
tops. Seat and back are similarly upholstered. Above crest is a separate
head rest attached to the rear of the crest. The foot rest section has
four feet with one low wide upholstered step. Stiles in front have a decorative
slat and at top is an upholstered footrest. Inscription in metal assembly
under seat: "E. Beringhaus / Manuf't'r / Cin'ti' O / Pride of the
West" "Eugene Beringhaus / Maker Cincinnati O." Not currently
on exhibit.
Discussion: The chair was donated in February 1930 from Eureka, Florida, but no information about its history was found in the files in 1997. This is unfortunate as the chair type was a very popular one in the late 20th century, and it could well have been used for a long period in Eureka or elsewhere in Florida. For museums, the history of an artifact, such as this barber chair, is every bit as important as the object itself.
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25. Chair, Photographer's. Circa 1880–1910. Wicker; wood; metal, brass [Vernacular style] Acc. No. 47480
Description:
Saber style front and back legs. Elaborate openwork around knees and seat
rail. Close woven seat rail in front with blue-green decorative cane design
woven on front of rattan skirt. Closely woven rattan seat in wood seat
frame, reinforced by wood braces below seat. Stiles have decorative overlay
of wood balls and cane. There is a center splat of wood and tightly woven
rattan with decorative open work in a trumpet configuration. Top rail is
an elaborate curving openwork and close woven head rest with matching decorative
colored blue-green cane design woven over the top of the rattan. Paper
label glued under the seat reads: "No. 6037a [numerals written by
hand with a dip pen) Heywood Brothers and Wakefield Company / Gardner,
Mass. USA."
Discussion: Fancy chairs of this type were standard props in most photographer's studios in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This chair was donated in April 1930 by a world traveler and collector who wintered in Florida in the early 20th century.
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26. Chair, Arm. 1986. Wood, bent cypress; steel nails. Made by Robert James Rudd of Lake Worth, Florida [Folk/Vernacular style] No Acc. No., Folk Collection
Description: Artifact is made of roughly smoothed cypress logs. Four straight legs, one stretcher between each leg, front, back, and sides, with a vertical brace between stretcher and seat rail on each side and back, as well as two braces in front. Seat and back are continuous, made of seven thin branches that fan out in back. Frame of back is made of three branches bent almost into a circle to form stiles and crest. Arm rests match the back. All elements have been nailed together. Not currently on exhibit.
Discussion: This piece of furniture can be considered the product of a folk artist. Robert James Rudd of Bronson, Florida, learned the craft of cypress furniture making as a child from his father in Lake Worth. It was a widespread craft in the 19th and early 20th centuries; however, due to loss of habitat, far fewer young cypress trees are now available, and it has become rare to see this furniture today. The maker and his grandson, Neil, have participated in the Florida Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. Thus, the elder man is passing his skills along to a new generation.
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Other Good Books About Furniture
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