THE FURNITURE COLLECTION

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, furniture often indicated a familyís wealth and position in colonial society.  The Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum collections include some of the finest pieces made or used in Connecticut, as well as examples of Boston and Newport furniture.  Although some pieces were purchased for the Museum, many were donated by Colonial Dames or descendants of the original owners.  The furniture collection ranges in date from a ca. 1680 joined oak blanket chest to a ca. 1845 sewing stand.

Locally-made pieces are the highlights of the furniture collection.  One of the most important is a Wethersfield scalloped-top tea table from the Belden family.  The Museum also holds a set of four Belden family side chairs attributed to Eliphalet Chapin of East Windsor as well as two additional pairs of chairs attributed to the same maker.  Coming from slightly further afield are a block-front and carved case of four drawers from the Colchester region, a Norwich/New London side chair with its original seat cover embroidered by Sarah Noyes Chester, a desk and bookcase the same region, and a Middletown chest of drawers with molded-edge top.

Museum donors know and appreciate the historic value of what they contribute.  One Colonial Dame gave her familyís much-loved Daniel Burnap clock made in Coventry, Connecticut between 1785 and 1795.  Another family donated a fabulous ca. 1700 Saybrook-area chest-over-drawer that they had been using to store athletic equipment!  Today both pieces are featured in the Deane House.

Newport-made furniture forms another significant grouping in the furniture collection.  The Museum has a circular tip-top tea table and a rectangular tray top tea table, plus an assembled set of side chairs all made in the same shop using the same template for the pierced splat.  Boston is represented by a diminutive block-front chest of drawers, a serpentine-front chest of drawers, and a serpentine-front desk.  There is also a charming Boston-area dressing table or low boy that was exhibited at the St. Louis Worldís Fair before being donated to the Museum.

With the acquisition of Stevens House the Museum gained good examples of early nineteenth-century furniture, including a set of saber-legged chairs, a set of Hitchcock-style chairs, and a lovely painted high chair.  A rare print settee and an Eli Terry shelf, donated by a member of the Terry family, were acquired to use in furnishing the house.

Most of the furniture is currently on exhibit and can be seen during regular tours.  A few pieces are in storage pending future use.  Furniture artifacts are often loaned to other museums for special exhibitions.
 
 

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