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Europeans in North America

Terms

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Periods of Early American Design - although all North American design history from the first settlements to the end of the 18th century is sometimes called "Colonial" it is more informative to divide that history into 3 phases:
1. Early Colonial (before c. 1720)

2. Late Colonial or Georgian (c. 1720-87)

3. Federal (after 1787)
Design Achievements of Early Colonial period (before c. 1720)
Jamestown Colony, 1607;
Plymouth Colony, 1620

Wren Building, Williamsburg, 1695-1702;
Governor's Place, Santa Fe, 1610; Capitol, Williamsburg 1701-5;
Governor's Palace, Williamsburg, 1706-20
Design Achievements and architects/designers/craftsman of Late Colonial or Georgian, c. 1720-87
American Revolution, 1775-83; Declaration of Independence, 1776; first Shaker colony founded, 1776

first California mission, 1769;
first Monticello, 1769-82;
Mt. Vernon 1757-87,
Virginia State Capitol, 1785

Paul Revere, 1735-1818
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826
Samuel McIntire 1757-1811
Design Achievements/Craftsmen of Federal period and after 1787
White House 1792-1801; U.S. Capitol 1792-1830; second Monticello 1796-1809

Charles Bulfinch, Benjamin Henry Latrobe - brought Greek revisval to U.S
Duncan Phyfe, 1768-1854
wrigglework
17th century Pennsylvania, made by rocking a gouge along the surface of the metal, a technique also used for pewter and silver and tin
jappaned tinware and jappaned tin-plated ironware
The most popular treatment of tin, was to lacquer or "japan" it. Made from the early 18th century in both England, where they were called Pontypool wares, named for the town where many of them were made, and in France, where they were known as tole peinte (painted iron). In America they were called tole or toleware, used for picture frames, lamps, trays, teapots, water jugs, etc.
Pewter
an alloy of tin with copper and lead. Tin conten can vary between 60 and 90%. Largely replaced by nickel, silver, silverplate, and china.
Early America's 2 most famous silversmiths were
John Coney - engraver and silver and goldsmith, producing the plates with which the colonies' first paper money was printed.

Paul Revere - engraver, silversmith. His most famous single design is a silver punch bowl for Sons of Liberty.
flame stitch
A fabric pattern of repeated jagged lines in different colors, resembling flames. Also called bargello stitch and Florentine stitch.
The first American objects called rugs and carpets, surprising were
not laid on the floor but were used as table covers and bedcovers and draped over chests, cupboards, mantels, shelves, and even windowsills.
What colors typified the Colonial movement?
Saturated, darker, colors "Georgian" greens, reds, blues, yellows
What colors typified Federal style?
Toned down versions of colonial colors - slightly greyed - pale greens, pinks, roses, slightly greyed.

Federal was more true to classics than Georgian in terms of architectural style.
Jefferson's Monticello
Not a typical dome, floor below grade, ionic order typical, he held a disdain for the Georgian style and an enthusiasm for a more correct classicism. Palladian, with generous ceiling heights, shapes squares, octagons, and half octagons. Narrow stairs, doric order in dining room, ionic in entrance hall and corinthaian in parlor.
The White House, originally known as the President's House was designed by
James Hoban. George Washington altered Hoban's design somewhat, englarging it and adding stone embellishments, and later Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Henry Latrobe added to the Capitol.

The House was a 3-story rectangular block with a projecting central half cylinder and inside the projection was the house's chief innovation, an oval salon on axis with the rectangular entrance hall. East to west - Green, Blue, and Red room.

Burned by the British in 1814 and rebuilt with Hoban's design.
John Townsend
Furntirue maker, most admired for his blockfront casegoods with carved cockleshell ornament, called block-and-shell pieces. Term blockfront refers to a furniture front divided into 3 vertical panels, the center one slightly concave, the outer ones slightly convex. Also called tub front or swell'd front pieces.
Sameuel McIntire
expert carver, skilled architect.

Early McIntire essays in what is now called the Federal style, showing the influence of Robert Adam, were the Nathan Read house in Salem and Lyman house in Waltham, MA, featuring an oval room.
Duncan Phyfe
The furniture waas at first in the Chippendale style, but soon shifted to follow Sheraton, and certain favorite Phyfe motifs, such as the lyre shape that he used for cahir slats, table bases, and decorative carvings (taken from Adam).

Forerunner to Victorian.
Earliest colonial seating was on backless stools or on long benches called
forms.
17th century chairs were of 4 chief types:
1. turned chair
2. wainscot chair
3. Cromwell chair
4. Slat-back chair
Earliest in popularity were the turned chairs, their spindles and posts decorated by turning on a lathe - Carver and Brewster chair (both named for New England governors.
Early American furniture
1. Oak chest of drawers showing split spindles
2. wainscot chair
3. ladder back rocker 1740
4. ladder back chair
5. butterfly table
6. Hadley chest
7. Cupboard
3 types of early american chairs (pp. 481)
1. fiddle back
2. table chair
3. banister back
Easy chair was in use by 1710 and was upholstered with a seat cusion called a squab with wings called cheeks that eventually became known as
wing chair
american windsor chairs
1. fan back 1770
2. comb back 1770
3. loop back 1770
fiddleback chair of the 18th and early 19th centuries, shaped like a fiddle or vase, taken from a queen anne chair
front stretcher reminiscent of william and mary style and its seat of rush like the slat-back. Became known as

York,
rush-bottom
Beds in colonial north america simple frames with wooden slats or ropes to support mattresses filled with straw or feathers
Trundle beds - sometimes called truckle beds
Daybed
Most popular beds were:
1. Low four-poster bed
2. four-poster bed
3. tent bed
4. sleigh bed
scrimshaw
small decorative objects carved of ivory or bone were called scrimshaw.
Late Colonial and early Federal furniture types: (pp. 489)
1. Sheraton armchair
2. Hepplewhite sideboard
3. Constituiotn mirror
4. Philadelphia highboy
5. Goddard-type desk showing block front
6. Chippendale sofa
7. Chippendale chair
kas
an American version of awardrobe made in Netherlands where it was called a kast. A favorite of Dutch settlers in the Hudson and Delaware River Valleys, it was tall, large, fitted with paneled, double-doors and a pair of drawers beneath, was topped with a cornice and sat on ball feet. its typical decorative treatment was boldly scaled grisaille painting sof festoons and fruit.
A Pennsylvania-German variation was the schrank, similar to the kas except for the additon of a heavy molding, like an upsdie down cornice, between the bottom drawers and the bun feet.
Boston chair
was a simplified and inexpensive version of a William and Mary chair. Instead of having ornately carved crest, the top of the back had a flat one with a gracefully curved outline. Its seat and back were upholstered in leather fastened with brass tacks to a frame that was usually stained black or red. They were made in Boston, and exported to all the colonies.
scrutoire or escritoire
was a writing desk with a slanted fron that folded down to form a writing surface; it might or might not have a bookcase above it.
Highboy, secretary, highdaddy
highboy - american term for English tallboy
secretary - highboy that incorporated a fold-down writing surface
high daddy - 18th century - a tall chest with 6 or more drawers in graduated sizes was called a high daddy
reredos or rajas
ironwork
Until ironmongers, early colonials used
mortise and tenon
pegged lapped joint (lap and peg)

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