AFA 20th Anniversary

2020 Antiques & Fine Art 121 Fraktur, painted chest, and painted boxes. Chest, possibly by Johannes Mayer (1794–1883), Mahantongo Valley, Northumberland or Schuylkill County, Pa., ca. 1830. Pine, tulip poplar, maple, paint, brass, iron. H. 27½, W. 49, D. 21¼ in. Dietrich American Foundation (8.2.4.1232). With chunky, canted feet that are attached via threaded wooden dowels, this painted chest may have been made by Johannes Mayer (1794– 1883), a carpenter, woodturner, and joiner. On loan from the Dietrich American Foundation, the small red and yellow rosettes on the chest are typical of Mahantongo Valley furniture, while the images of children kneeling in prayer were inspired by printed fraktur such as the one hanging above the chest—a birth and baptismal certificate made for Johannes Mayer’s daughter, Catharina. On top of the chest is a vibrantly painted dome-top box by the Compass Artist, probably Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, ca. 1800–1840, and a slide-lid box with hidden drawer made by the Mennonite carpenter John Drissell (1762–1846) of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for David Stauffer in 1792; both are from the collection of Historic Trappe trustee Adrienne Stalek and her husband David Pickel. Hanging on the wall above are sixteen fraktur, including a large spiritual maze printed at the Ephrata Cloister (bottom right), rewards of merit by schoolmaster Conrad Gilbert (middle left), a writing sample by Schwenkfelder artist Susanna Heebner (top left), and other pieces made by Christian Alsdorff, Samuel Gottschall, Henrich Otto, Daniel Schumacher, and other major fraktur artists.