AFA 20th Anniversary

20th Anniversary 118 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com Kitchen dresser, Mahantongo Valley, Northumberland or Schuylkill County, Pa., ca. 1830. Tulip poplar, pine, paint, brass, iron, glass. H. 81, W. 69⅞, D. 20⅜ in. Dietrich American Foundation (8.2.6.1274.) Known as a Kuchenschrank (kitchen cupboard) or dresser, this example came out of the renowned George Horace Lorimer collection, sold at Parke-Bernet in 1944. It was made in the Mahantongo Valley of central Pennsylvania, and has a construction feature distinctive to that region—the countertop section lifts off with the upper half, rather than remaining on top of the base section. The dresser is decorated with nearly two dozen turned wooden ornaments, which were painted red to contrast with the bluish-green background. On the countertop is a trio of Pennsylvania German baskets made of round oak rods and colorful pincushions, likely Mennonite, from Lancaster County. A wide range of redware fills the cupboard, including two sgraffito plates by potter David Spinner (1758–1811) of Bucks County, on the top shelf (on loan from the Rocky Hill Collection), and slipware plates by potter Willoughby Smith (1839–1905) of Womelsdorf, Berks County, on the middle shelf (collection of Jeffrey Herb).