55th Annual Delaware Show

composition ornament served as just one visual marker of that influence. Design books, trade catalogues, and other printed materials all played a crucial role in the dissemination of new styles. But did such designs take hold in America? The Winterthur collection suggests that they did. Winterthur’s fifth floor contains numerous objects embellished with the types of ornamental decoration seen throughout Wyon’s trade catalogue, including the patterned swag molding on a side table (figs. 2a, 2b) and the carved ribbons on the crest of a side chair (figs. 3a, 3b). Designs found in such catalogues contributed to a universal vocabulary that allowed Americans to express their knowledge of fashionable styles while crafting their perceptions of American identity in public and private spaces. A mantelpiece by Robert Wellford, now in the Winterthur Cottage (fig. 4), features tiny acanthus leaves along the shelf, ribbons and rosettes in the side friezes, and vertical foliage on the pilasters ― all elements that appear in Wyon’s catalogue. The center frieze depicts the Battle of Lake Erie (1813), which helps to narrow the targeted Fig. 2a. Detail of front molding. Side table, Boston, Massachusetts, 1810. Mahogany, mahogany veneer, maple, basswood, elm, white pine, Tilia. Museum purchase 1953.161 Fig. 2b. Detail of a patterned swag illustration in the Wyon trade catalogue, no. 68, probably from designs by Jaques and Son. — 109 —