Counter

Description

Pine work counter. Top of a single piece of wood, stained dark orange. Exterior painted with very old Shaker blue paint (said to have been done in 1792, same as the meetinghouse interior). No back, exposing the rear of the drawers and shelves. Ten drawers in two banks of five drawers, and a cupboard with a door and two shelves. Drawers are dovetailed; fronts have beaded lips on all four edges. Cupboard has a frame and flat panel door with molded edges round the interior of the frame on the outside only; door has iron butt hinges and a single cherry knob. Door mortised and through tenoned; each joint is double pinned. Interior of cupboard painted red-orange.

Notes

The counter was removed from the third floor attic of the Canterbury, NH meetinghouse. Most likely, it was made during renovations done in 1815, when the whole house's interior was painted blue. The counter is useful in understanding the development of the Shaker furniture style, as it is one of the only examples known to be from this time period (one other example being an 1817 case of drawers from Mount Lebanon, NY). Notable design elements include the unusual use of color with the dark blue case and red-orange top; the asymmetrical arrangement of the door and drawers, uncommon in other American furniture of the period; and the plain, flat panel in the door.