First joinery for the next cupboard

pfollansbee

Sep 10

I started cutting joinery for the next version of the Essex County cupboard.

I hate to use the word "unique" when describing particular antique furniture. But these northern Essex County cupboards from the 1680s or so have some features that we don't see elsewhere in New England furniture of that period. The framing I cut in the past day or two (part of the end framing of the lower case) illustrates some of that distinction. Two very deep (or tall) end rails are the first feature that stands out - these appear in the cupboards and also in some of the joined chests from this unidentified shop. These two are each 7 1/2" high. Below is the original cupboard now at the Massachusetts Historical Society

Those double tenons on the rails join a "normal" stile at the rear, but at the front they join separate square blocks that are connected by the large turned pillar. Behind that pillar is a recessed stile that frames the middle two drawers. This recessed section, or the overhang above and below it, is part of this shop's signature approach to making large cupboards.

So what's "normal" look like? Here's another shop from Essex County, another elaborate cupboard (at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem). But look at the lower case, essentially a chest-of-drawers. All the drawer fronts are in the same plane - none of that overhanging "jetty" like the northern Essex County stuff. This is what most New England court/press/wainscot cupboards present for their lower case, whether it's drawers or doors down there.

Some of the overhangs are significant, some very slight. Here's the one at Winterthur that Jennie Alexander used to call the "lunar lander." Here the overhang is to the sides, not the front.

And the most extreme example, even with its later additions/changes - the Currier Gallery of Art cupboard. It has double-jetties both to the sides and the front in the lower case. Framing that takes some head-scratching.