Domestic Furnishings

Tiffany Floor Lamp

Washboards, armchairs, lamps, and pots and pans may not seem to be museum pieces. But they are invaluable evidence of how most people lived day to day, last week or three centuries ago. The Museum's collections of domestic furnishings comprise more than 40,000 artifacts from American households. Large and small, they include four houses, roughly 800 pieces of furniture, fireplace equipment, spinning wheels, ceramics and glass, family portraits, and much more.

The Arthur and Edna Greenwood Collection contains more than 2,000 objects from New England households from colonial times to mid-1800s. From kitchens of the past, the collections hold some 3,300 artifacts, ranging from refrigerators to spatulas. The lighting devices alone number roughly 3,000 lamps, candleholders, and lanterns.

Date: 1840s

Teapot

Mallet-shaped teapot with incurved neck and rounded shoulder on a circular, flared pedestal base. Bell-domed, hinged lid with wide, flat, overhanging edge is topped by button knop. Spurred, S-curve, D- or ear-shaped handle in pinned into spiral-scroll sockets.
Description
Mallet-shaped teapot with incurved neck and rounded shoulder on a circular, flared pedestal base. Bell-domed, hinged lid with wide, flat, overhanging edge is topped by button knop. Spurred, S-curve, D- or ear-shaped handle in pinned into spiral-scroll sockets. Faceted, S-curve spout has elongated D-shaped lip. Body perforated at spout. Inset flat bottom. No marks.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1840
ID Number
DL.65.0179
catalog number
65.0179
accession number
258258

Coffeepot

Baluster-shaped coffeepot on flared circular base with scored and molded decoration around rim, neck, belly, and base. High-domed, incised-edge, hinged lid is topped by wood disk knop.
Description
Baluster-shaped coffeepot on flared circular base with scored and molded decoration around rim, neck, belly, and base. High-domed, incised-edge, hinged lid is topped by wood disk knop. S- and C-curve, D- or ear-shaped handle with crescent thumbrest is pinned into cylindrical sockets. Body perforated at plain, S-curve spout with split lip. Underside of inset flat bottom struck incuse with circular touch mark of "A. GRISWOLD" with spreadwing eagle, body facing right and head turned left.
Maker is Ashbil (or Ashbel) Griswold (1784-1853); working, circa 1802-1842. Trained with Thomas Danforth III as a pewterer; opened a shop in Meriden in 1808 and expanded into producing britannia wares at an early date, establishing Meriden as a major manufacturing center of pewter, britannia and plated goods. Was one of the founding partners of the Meriden Britannia Co. in 1852.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1820 - 1840
ca 1820-1840
ID Number
DL.391781
catalog number
391781
accession number
71679

The Two Dogs

Colored print of two dogs lying in the grass. Barrel in right background. Basket with two bottles and apples in left background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of two dogs lying in the grass. Barrel in right background. Basket with two bottles and apples in left background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1833-1842
maker
D.W. Kellogg and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2357
catalog number
60.2357
accession number
228146

1835 - 1845 Quaker Trousseau Pieced Quilt

An intriguing note came with this framed medallion quilt when it was donated: “The Quaker Quilt. Phil.
Description
An intriguing note came with this framed medallion quilt when it was donated: “The Quaker Quilt. Phil. ca 1840 made for wedding of bride of early Philadelphia Quaker Abolitionist of pieces from the gowns of her trousseau.” Unfortunately there is no indication of the quilt maker or ownership.
The focus of the 41-inch central square, “Star of Bethlehem,” is set off by a 5-inch octagonal border. Additional pieced and plain borders frame this variation of a medallion-style quilt. The beige, tan, brown, rust, and light grey silks and satins utilized for the pattern would be typical of the Quaker esthetic and period. The quilt is lined with roller printed cottons and filled with wool. It is quilted with a variety of geometric patterns (grid, diagonal, chevron, and parallel lines), feathered and flowering vines in the borders, and a spray of flowers in the corner squares. This quilt is a precisely designed example of Quaker quilts in the mid-19th century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835-1845
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.E388880
accession number
182022
catalog number
E388880

Figured and Fancy coverlet; double-cloth; 1844; New York

This unsigned, blue & white, Figured and Fancy, double-cloth coverlet has no fringe. There is a large stylized ovular central medallion made up of flowering baskets and scrolling foliage. Beyond this are scattered flowers.
Description
This unsigned, blue & white, Figured and Fancy, double-cloth coverlet has no fringe. There is a large stylized ovular central medallion made up of flowering baskets and scrolling foliage. Beyond this are scattered flowers. There is a double border around four sides of the coverlet. The innermost border is composed of similar flowering baskets and foliate scrollwork. The outermost border contains the date, “1844” and is made up of stylized floral designs and peacock feather eyes. The designs are similar to those used by New York weaver, Ira Hadsell. However, Hadsell usually signed his work. According to the donor, this coverlet was made for her great-grandmother near Syracuse, New York.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1844
ID Number
TE.T6714
catalog number
T06714.000
accession number
111910

Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle, a short story by celebrated American author Washington Irving, was first published in 1819 without illustrations in “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.” Best known for his popular stories of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving achieved acc
Description
Rip Van Winkle, a short story by celebrated American author Washington Irving, was first published in 1819 without illustrations in “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.” Best known for his popular stories of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving achieved acclaim in Europe and the U.S. over the course of his successful writing career. Rip Van Winkle was included in “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent” while Irving was living in Europe. Thus, he was one of the earliest American authors to survive merely on his writing. Irving’s stories have remained an emblem of American culture as they were some of the first short stories that aimed to entertain rather than educate. The two best known Irving stories- Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow have inspired artists to create beautiful illustrations like the one included in this print.
The gothic story Rip Van Winkle tells of an ordinary 19th century man who lives in the Dutch Kaatskills (currently the Catskills of New York). He struggles with his nagging wife, Dame Van Winkle, and in an effort to escape her on an especially bad day, he flees to the woods with his dog and his gun. While in the woods, he meets a stranger who is a representation of the spirits of Hendrick Hudson, and is instructed to serve these spirits a precious drink. Tempted, he tries the drink as well and ultimately becomes so drunk that he falls into a deep sleep. When he wakes, he thinks that it is merely the next morning, but it becomes clear that 20 years have passed. He is now an old widow with Loyalist sentiments that show he is living in the past, prior to the American Revolution. The story ends with Rip Van Winkle living a peaceful life in the home of his daughter, finally free from his wife’s nagging.
This print shows Rip Van Winkle sitting among four children of the village. Two of them are boys, while the other two appear to be girls, and they all gather around Rip Van Winkle who is balancing a toy sailboat in a tub of water. Two of the boys lie on the bench beside Rip Van Winkle while a young girl lies on his back. Also pictured are some animals, including Rip Van Winkle’s dog Woof, a cat curled up underneath the bench, and some type of bird with her chicks. The setting appears to be in some type of open or lean-to shed as there are tools leaning against the wall and the building is open to the elements, showing the forest and farmland of the region. At this point of the story, Rip Van Winkle is described as a man who was popular among the village children; he would spend time teaching them how to fly kites or recounting ghost stories with them gathered round.
Sarony, Major, & Knapp was one of the largest lithographic firms at the end of the 19th and the early of the 20th centuries. However, before it achieved this success it started out small in 1843 when Napoleon Sarony and James P. Major joined together to start a business. Later in 1857, Joseph F. Knapp joined the company making it Sarony, Major, & Knapp. At the time that this was printed, Knapp was not a part of the business, so it was just Sarony & Major.
Felix O. C. Darley (1822-1888), the artist behind the twelve best-known illustrations for The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow, is considered one of America’s best illustrators. The publisher was the American Art Union, (1839-1857) a subscription organization created to educate the public about American art and artists while providing support for American artists. For $5.00 members would receive admissions to the gallery showing, a yearly report, and an engraving of an original work, as well as any benefits each chapter might provide. Two special editions of the story, each with a set of six of Darley’s illustrations were published; the special edition including this illustration was published in 1850. This print is bound with five others at the back of a rebound book. The cover is of the earlier Rip Van Winkle edition published for the American Art Union but the title page and text are of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1848
maker
Sarony & Major
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr
ID Number
DL.60.2443
catalog number
60.2443
accession number
228146

Lady of the Lake

Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater w
Description (Brief)
Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class, and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
This is a hand colored print; outdoor scene of a hunter standing in foliage on shore with dog. A maiden stands in a gondola-like vessel on a lake. The figures are dressed in elaborate, romantic costumes. This print is an illustration for the poem by Sir Walter Scott. An excerpt from the poem "Lady of the Lake" is beneath the title of the print.
The print was produced by the lithographic firm of Kelloggs & Comstock, which was the 1848-1850 partnership of Elijah and Edmund Kellogg with John Chenevard Comstock.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1848-1849
distributor
Needham, D.
maker
Kelloggs & Comstock
ID Number
DL.60.2229
catalog number
60.2229
accession number
228146

Baccarat Paperweight

In the 1700s, paperweights made from textured stone or bronze were part of the writer’s tool kit, which also included a quill pen and stand, inkpot, and blotter.
Description (Brief)
In the 1700s, paperweights made from textured stone or bronze were part of the writer’s tool kit, which also included a quill pen and stand, inkpot, and blotter. By the mid-1800s, decorative paperweights produced by glassmakers in Europe and the United States became highly desired collectibles.
Decorative glass paperweights reflected the 19th-century taste for intricate, over-the-top designs. Until the spread of textiles colorized with synthetic dyes, ceramics and glass were among the few objects that added brilliant color to a 19th-century Victorian interior. The popularity of these paperweights in the 1800s testifies to the sustained cultural interest in hand craftsmanship during an age of rapid industrialization.
The French firm, Baccarat, was originally founded as the Verrerie Renaut in 1764, by request of the Bishop of Metz to the King of France, Louis XV. After the French Revolution, the company was re-named Verrerie de Baccarat. Peak production of Baccarat paperweights was between 1846 and1855.
This Baccarat glass paperweight features a “Gridel” silhouette cane (said to be named after a young boy whose cut paper silhouettes inspired Baccarat’s glass workers), and “1847” and “1848” date canes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1847-1848
maker
Baccarat
ID Number
CE.67.224
catalog number
67.224
accession number
213138

Lepus Texianus, Aud. & Bach.

This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals.
Description (Brief)
This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals. It included 150 stone lithographs produced in three volumes of 50 prints per volume. The lithographs were based on watercolor drawings by John James Audubon and after 1846, son John Woodhouse Audubon, who completed the series due to the elder Audubon’s failing eyesight and declining health. Another son, Victor Gifford Audubon, assisted with the drawings backgrounds. The lithographs were printed on non-watermarked heavy white paper and coloring was applied by hand before the prints were bound. Reverend John Bachman was a naturalist of note, as well as John James Audubon’s friend and father of both daughter-in-laws, so he provided the accompanying letterpress narrative. It made the production truly a family affair. The slightly later Octavo edition contained 155 prints of smaller size.
This unbound lithographic plate depicts a hand-colored image of a brown hare with mottled markings crouched among low grasses.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1848
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
printer
Bowen, John T.
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2742
catalog number
60.2742
accession number
228146

Envelope from Treasury Department

This is an envelope addressed to Samuel Copp sent from Treasury Department which contained a July 10 letter, postmarked July 12.The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
This is an envelope addressed to Samuel Copp sent from Treasury Department which contained a July 10 letter, postmarked July 12.
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1841-07-12
associated date
1841-07-10
associated person
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.093
catalog number
6873.093
accession number
28810

Foot Warmer Patent Model

Full-size patent model (U.S. Patent No. 5,029) of a water-heated foot warmer or "water foot-stove", made by George H. Thatcher of Ballston, NY, and patented on March 20, 1847.
Description
Full-size patent model (U.S. Patent No. 5,029) of a water-heated foot warmer or "water foot-stove", made by George H. Thatcher of Ballston, NY, and patented on March 20, 1847. Consists of two compartments: the watertight upper half has two, angled compartments for placing one's feet, a high partition and sides, and a hood at front with spout in one corner; the perforated lower half contains the lamp, which can be accessed by the arched, hinged door at back and moved with the brass knob to its left. No marks.
Location
Currently not on view
patent date
1847-03-20
inventor
Thatcher, George H.
ID Number
DL.251766
catalog number
251766
patent number
5,029
accession number
48890

Creamer

Octagonal or panel-sided, urn-shaped cream pot with spurred S-scroll handle; missing pedestal base. Conforming rim and pouring spout. Maker's mark partially visible on underside of body.
Description
Octagonal or panel-sided, urn-shaped cream pot with spurred S-scroll handle; missing pedestal base. Conforming rim and pouring spout. Maker's mark partially visible on underside of body. From a sugar bowl and creamer set, DL*311709 and DL*311714.
Maker is Leonard, Reed & Barton of Taunton, MA. Founded by Gustavus Leonard, Henry F. Reed and Charles E. Barton as successor to Taunton Britannia Manufacturing Company in 1835; became Reed & Barton in 1840. Marked panel-sided coffee- and teapots matching sugar bowl DL*311709 and creamer DL*311714 are known.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835-1840
ID Number
DL.311714
catalog number
311714
accession number
64443

chair, rocking

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1840
ID Number
DL.67.0611
catalog number
67.0611
accession number
248268

John LaTourette; Jacquard, double-cloth coverlet; 1844;

The blue and white, Jacquard double-cloth coverlet features a carpet medallion centerfield design composed of floral medallions and scalloped foliate-filled diamonds. The border is a meandering/running floral design and unique to the maker, John LaTourette.
Description
The blue and white, Jacquard double-cloth coverlet features a carpet medallion centerfield design composed of floral medallions and scalloped foliate-filled diamonds. The border is a meandering/running floral design and unique to the maker, John LaTourette. There is a self-fringe at the lower edge of the coverlet. A stylized flower trademark is woven into each of the lower corners, and below it, the date 1844. This flower trademark is associated with the LaTourette family of Fountain County, Indiana, and the 1844 date suggests that John (Jean) S. LaTourette was the weaver.
The LaTourette family immigrated to Staten Island, New York in 1685, just after Louis XIV’s revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when French Protestants, known as Huguenots, were forced to either convert to Catholicism or leave the Kingdom of France. As a result, there was a mass exodus of craftspeople to Protestant Europe and the British American colonies. John (Jean) S. LaTourette (1793-1849) was born in New Jersey to a weaver and Revolutionary War veteran also named John G. Latourette (1749-1813). After serving in the War of 1812, John married his wife, Sarah Schenck (1799-1873) in 1816.
The couple immediate headed west, first settling in Germantown, Ohio were the first half of fourteen children were born. In 1828, John LaTourette purchased eighty-acres in what would become Wabash Township, Fountain City, Indiana. The LaTourettes were among the first European settlers in the area. The family initially lived in a log cabin and spent most of their energy clearing the land, farming, and weaving a variety of goods for their neighbors.
After 1840, the weaving began to shift to exclusively coverlets and the log cabin became the loomhouse as the family built a larger brick home on their farm. This is also the time that two of his children, Sarah (1822-1914) and Henry (1832-1892) began to weave with their father. There are several extant accounts that there were at least three looms on the property. In an interview, John’s youngest son, Schuyler LaTourette described the looms the family used to weave the coverlets, indicating that they used punch-cards associated with the Jacquard loom introduced to the United States during the 1820s. John S. LaTourette died in 1849, leaving the booming weaving business in the able hands of his daughter Sarah and son Henry who continued to weave coverlets until 1871.
This coverlet is in excellent overall condition and is a wonderful example of one of Indiana’s famous coverlet-weaving dynasties. We can attribute this coverlet to John because of the 1844 date during his lifetime and the omission of the word “year” from the cornerblock. His children would continue to use the same cornerblock as their father but added the word “year” to differentiate their work from that of their father.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1844
possible maker
LaTourette, John
maker
LaTourette, John
ID Number
TE.T14001
catalog number
T14001.000
accession number
269209

The Bride and Bride's-Maid

Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater w
Description
Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
This three-quarter colored print is of a bride seated. The bridesmaid stands behind her adjusting her pink veil. Each woman wears a bracelet and necklace, and the bride wears one glove.
This print was produced by the lithographic firm of D.W. Kellogg & Co. Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807-1874) founded the company in 1830 Hartford, Connecticut. Before the opening of its first retail store in 1834, D.W. Kellogg & Co. lithography firm was well established and popular in United States, particularly in the South and the Southwest. As the founding member of the family company, Daniel Wright Kellogg established the initial growth and popularity of the firm. After he left the company it continued to flourish for decades under his younger brothers and other family members.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1833-1842
maker
D.W. Kellogg and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2317
catalog number
60.2317
accession number
228146

L. Hesse; Figured and Fancy coverlet; tied-Beiderwand; 1840; Ohio

L. Hesse wove this Figured and Fancy, red, white and green, tied-Beiderwand coverlet in 1840.
Description
L. Hesse wove this Figured and Fancy, red, white and green, tied-Beiderwand coverlet in 1840. There is no location or customer indicated in the cornerblock, but we know from other extant coverlets that Hesse and his brothers, both named Frederick were active in Somerset Township, Perry County and Hocking Counties in Ohio. The centerfield pattern features the common “Double Rose and Starburst” motif which is accented by smaller geometric crosses and fylfots (swastikas). There is a double border featuring addorsed “Eagles and Fruit Tree” and eight-pointed stars along the sides and bottom of the coverlet. There is self-fringe along the sides. The coverlet was woven on a hand loom with a patterning device attachment (either barrel loom or Jacquard mechanism) made in two pieces seamed together up the center. The Hesse brothers were active in Somerset, Hocking, and Perry Counties, Ohio. Frederick A. (b. 1801), Frederick E. (b. 1827), and L. Hesse (b. 1809) were Saxon immigrants from what was then the Kingdom of Prussia. They settled in Ohio, each opening their own weaving business. The brothers have extant coverlets dating from the years, 1838-1862 collectively. This coverlet belonged to the great-grandmother of the donor. Although we do not know her name, the accession file tells us she was born around 1830 and from Ohio, helping to further situate this coverlet in the proper context.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840
weaver
Hesse, L.
ID Number
TE.T14540
catalog number
T14540.000
accession number
277122

John Q. Adams, 5th President of the United States

Black and white print with crude coloring added. Oval bust portrait in an ornate rectangular frame of a man (President John Quincy Adams).Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print with crude coloring added. Oval bust portrait in an ornate rectangular frame of a man (President John Quincy Adams).
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1846
depicted
Adams, John Quincy
publisher
Williams, C. S.
maker
Newsam, Albert
Duval, Peter S.
ID Number
DL.60.3227
catalog number
60.3227

The Riddle

Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater w
Description
Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
This colored print is an interior scene of a man and woman seated on either side of a bed in which a woman in bedclothes reclines. Furnishings include a bed with pillows and skirt, stool with twisted legs, drapery, patterned carpet, wallpaper and a dresser with a mirror.
Henry R. Robinson was a caricaturist, lithographer, print publisher and retailer active in New York City from 1833 until 1851. He was well known as a political cartoonist and was politically affiliated with the anti-Jackson Whig party. He advertised his affiliation with a wig silhouette which he used as an advertising logo for his shop in New York City. Like many of his contemporaries, he mentored other lithographers, including Napoleon Sarony. In 1842 he was arrested for selling obscene pictures and books. His Sept 29, 1842 court case of People vs. H.R. Robinson in New York City can be found in the District Attorney Indictment Papers in the Municipal Archives.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1843
maker
Robinson, Henry R.
ID Number
DL.60.2248
catalog number
60.2248
accession number
228146

Coffeepot

Urn-shape coffeepot with an incurved neck ending in a round bead and flared shoulder atop a tapered cylindrical body on a flared, circular pedestal base. Bell-domed, hinged lid with wide, flat edge is topped by an octagonal fluted knop.
Description
Urn-shape coffeepot with an incurved neck ending in a round bead and flared shoulder atop a tapered cylindrical body on a flared, circular pedestal base. Bell-domed, hinged lid with wide, flat edge is topped by an octagonal fluted knop. Spurred C- and S-curve, D- or ear-shaped handle is pinned into cylindrical sockets. S-scroll spout has an elongated D-shaped lip, faceted face and tongued belly. Body perforated at spou. Underside of inset convex bottom is struck with five marks, including "G.RICHARDSO[N]" in raised serif letters in a finely serrated rectangle, and is scratched at lower left "i/m / u/m / v/m / v/n", possibly by different hands. Fine turning marks inside. Handle and knop with vestiges of black japanning; spout darker than body. Base edge dented.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1830-1840
ID Number
DL.60.1686
catalog number
60.1686
accession number
68968

Arctomys Lewisii, Aud. & Bach.

This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals.
Description (Brief)
This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals. It included 150 stone lithographs produced in three volumes of 50 prints per volume. The lithographs were based on watercolor drawings by John James Audubon and after 1846, son John Woodhouse Audubon, who completed the series due to the elder Audubon’s failing eyesight and declining health. Another son, Victor Gifford Audubon, assisted with the drawings backgrounds. The lithographs were printed on non-watermarked heavy white paper and coloring was applied by hand before the prints were bound. Reverend John Bachman was a naturalist of note, as well as John James Audubon’s friend and father of both daughter-in-laws, so he provided the accompanying letterpress narrative. It made the production truly a family affair. The slightly later Octavo edition contained 155 prints of smaller size.
This unbound lithographic plate depicts a hand-colored image of two brown marmots crouched before foliage.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1847
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
printer
Bowen, John T.
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2751
catalog number
60.2751
accession number
228146

Expulsion of Adam & Eve by James S. Baillie

This colored print depicts Adam and Eve, downcast beside a small lake. A distraught Eve is naked and kneeling on the ground. Adam is standing and fashioning a covering of branches to hide his nakedness and shame.
Description
This colored print depicts Adam and Eve, downcast beside a small lake. A distraught Eve is naked and kneeling on the ground. Adam is standing and fashioning a covering of branches to hide his nakedness and shame. A sylvan setting of trees and gentle hills forms the background.
The Expulsion represents the passage from the book of Genesis (3:22-24) after the Fall. That is, after Adam and Eve have eaten of the fruit which God has forbidden them to eat, they are cast out of the Garden of Eden and into the world where they are forced to labor and suffer the consequences of their sin. This scene encapsulates the central tenet of Christianity: only by repenting and following the teachings of Christ, can mankind obtain salvation.
This print was produced by James S. Baillie, who was active in New York from 1838 to 1855. James Baillie started as a framer in 1838, and then became an artist and lithographer in 1843 or 1844. He discovered how to color lithographs while working as an independent contractor for Currier & Ives in the mid 1840s. He was a prolific lithographer and colorist for Currier & Ives, and his prints were extremely popular with a wide distribution. James Baillie spent his later years concentrating on painting instead of lithography.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1846
depicted
Adam
Eve
maker
Baillie, James S.
ID Number
DL.60.2972
catalog number
60.2972
accession number
228146

Cup

Silver-gilt and niello tapered cylindrical covered cup with flared rim, applied reeded foot ring, and a cast S scroll handle; low-domed, stepped cover has a cast, leafy scrolled, triangular knop or finial with a putti sitting at center with arms raised.
Description
Silver-gilt and niello tapered cylindrical covered cup with flared rim, applied reeded foot ring, and a cast S scroll handle; low-domed, stepped cover has a cast, leafy scrolled, triangular knop or finial with a putti sitting at center with arms raised. Two men in classical military dress, one standing and one seated with names or title in cyrillic on pedestal below, are depicted in a circular reserve on front of body; rest of body and cover are filled with scrolls, foliage and flowers on a snakeskin ground. Gilt washed interior. Body and cover are by the same maker, but marks differ. Inside of cover is struck with three marks: St. George slaying the dragon in a conforming surround, the raised Cyrillic cursive letters "ГГ" in an oval, and "84" in a rectangle. Cup has "84" mark on front below rim and three marks on underside of flat bottom, "A•K / 1843" in raised Cyrillic in a rectangle, "84" in a clipped-corner rectangle, St. George slaying the dragon in a clipped-corner rectangle, and the raised Cyrillic cursive letters "ГГ" in an oval.
Piece made in Moscow, but maker not identified. Assayed by Andrey Antonovich Kovalsky (assayer, 1821-1856).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1843
ID Number
DL.68.0604
catalog number
68.0604
accession number
202470

Auburn State Prison, coverlet; Jacquard, double-cloth; 1842; New York

This blue and white, Jacquard, double-woven coverlet is made of cotton and wool. It features the “Bird of Paradise” pattern with floral and geometric borders on all four sides. It is woven in two sections, each thirty-nine inches wide. The sections were sewn together by hand.
Description
This blue and white, Jacquard, double-woven coverlet is made of cotton and wool. It features the “Bird of Paradise” pattern with floral and geometric borders on all four sides. It is woven in two sections, each thirty-nine inches wide. The sections were sewn together by hand. The date “AD 1842” is woven into all four corners with a stylized floral or carpet design cornerblock now known to be associated with the Auburn Prison Loom House and coverlet weaver, James Van Ness. The original owner was the donor’s father. He lived in Ontario County, New York. Coverlets could be commissioned by a man or a woman for use in the home. Being double-cloth, the coverlet was woven using two sets of warp and weft yarns. The blue yarn is indigo-dyed 2-ply S-twist, Z-Spun wool and the white yarns are 3-ply, S-twist, Z-spun cotton. The coverlet is made of two panels which were originally woven as one length.
Not much work has been done on prison weaving in the 19th century. Ralph S. Herre wrote a dissertation while at Penn State University entitled, "The History of Auburn Prison from the Beginning to about 1867." He confirmed that the prison did have a carpet weaving shop, sold to local customers, and even attempted to cultivate and manufacture silks. In American Coverlets and Their Weavers (2002), Clarita Anderson included an entry for a coverlet which had a family history of being from Auburn State Prison and dated 1835. Anderson pointed out that of the four confirmed Auburn State coverlets she had encountered most are Biederwand structure, not double weave. She attributed the coverlets to New York weaver, James Van Ness (1811-1872).
The two Auburn State Prison coverlets in the NMAH collection have a similar corner block organization but different motifs, suggesting the possibility that the individual(s) designing the point papers and cutting the cards for these coverlets were the same person, maybe even Van Ness. More research is needed to confirm Anderson's attribution. It could be, and likely was the case, that the prisoners were trained in coverlet and ingrain carpet weaving by a master weaver, perhaps even Van Ness. At the very least, ornate Fancy weave jacquard card sets were purchased by the prison with the express purpose of producing fancy weave coverlets for general consumption. Prisoners at Auburn State were organized in what became known as the Auburn- or Congregate-Style. Prisoners spent most of their time in isolation in their cells. They were released for work hours, six days a week. They walked silently to work, worked in silence, and lived in silence. This coverlet is a fascinating material glimpse into the culture and economics of prisons in the 19th century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1842
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T16877
catalog number
T16877
accession number
307177

Turner (Spatula)

Long-handled spatula or turner having a rectangular blade with rounded shoulders continuous with the straight shaft, rectangular in section and ending in a flattened, shaped hanger with pierced circular hanging hole. No marks.Currently not on view
Description
Long-handled spatula or turner having a rectangular blade with rounded shoulders continuous with the straight shaft, rectangular in section and ending in a flattened, shaped hanger with pierced circular hanging hole. No marks.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1800
ID Number
DL.59.2245
catalog number
59.2245
accession number
220211

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