Charleston Loan Exhibition

G RANDEUR P RESERVED : M ASTERWORKS P RESENTED BY H ISTORIC C HARLESTON F OUNDATION 24 s residents of the capital of the colonial South, Charleston’s citizens enjoyed a century of unprecedented economic prosperity, fueling a culture of conspicuous consumption. In this diverse and socially mobile society of the eighteenth century, an individual’s status was determined by wealth, not lineage. Luxury goods, such as fine mahogany furniture, silver, paintings—whether landscapes showing a plantation seat or portraits by masters at home or abroad—furnishing and dress textiles and ceramics were significant social trappings available to anyone with the financial means to acquire them. Although great quantities of goods were imported on British ships, the insatiable appetite for luxury wares sustained a significant local community of notable artists and skilled artisans, who both produced goods and retailed fashionable imports. Some of these craftspeople were born in the Lowcountry. Others, like Philadelphia carver William Crisps (d. 1786) and London cabinetmaker Thomas Elfe (ca. 1719– 1775), were attracted to Charleston from neighboring colonies and abroad. As early as the 1730s, a thriving cabinetmaking community had developed in the Lowcountry. In an effort to satisfy their sophisticated patrons and compete with imported goods, Charleston’s cabinetmakers adopted the highest standards of craftsmanship and used the finest materials. The majority of furniture produced in Charleston during the colonial period is overtly British in design and construction, reflecting patrons’ desire for furniture in the latest London fashion. The designs were inspired by the design books of popular tastemakers including Thomas Chippendale, George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton. An example is the exquisite breakfast table closely based on plate number thirty-three in Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754). Common forms favored in England, such as the dressing and double chest, were ubiquitous in the Lowcountry; and items known as iconic in the American canon, such as the high chest of drawers popular in the Northeast, were eschewed because they were viewed as old fashioned. High standards of craftsmanship continued throughout the federal period in Charleston and become the hallmark of Lowcountry furniture, distinguishing it regionally from examples made in other American cities. Furniture overall became more specialized and forms more delicate with the use of attenuated legs, contrasting woods and intricate bold inlays. At the same time the influx of craftsmen from northern Germany and Scotland introduced new forms and decorative modes, such as the double-tier sideboard. For example, Robert Walker (1772–1833), who emigrated from Scotland to New York and then Charleston in 1795, was one of the city’s most prominent craftsmen. Indeed, the ethnic diversity, as it applies to furniture that had been suppressed by a preference for British ideals throughout much of the colonial period, flourished during the federal period. While fine silver articles were imported to Charleston from the urban centers of Great Britain and Europe in the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, a significant community of silversmiths, jewelers and watchmakers thrived in the southern port city. For the colonial period alone, scholars have documented over one hundred individuals working in the luxury metals trade. By the second decade of the nineteenth century, at least sixty-eight silversmiths were active in the city, a testament to the strength of the market and the steady patronage of the local clientele. A great deal of written evidence suggests that these artisans produced a prodigious amount of very fine and sophisticated articles in addition to retailing imported wares; however, in comparison to other regions, extant objects are relatively scarce. Charlestonians were greatly concerned with keeping up with current fashion, and it was a common practice to bring one’s older silver into the smith’s shop to be remade. Perhaps so little colonial silver remains because of the custom of melting down silver for fund or fashion. In addition, the looting that occurred during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and two centuries of natural and man-made disasters most certainly had an impact. With few exceptions, the style and form of Charleston silver closely follow the prevailing styles from across the Atlantic with little time lag. The most successful watchmakers and metalworkers, like Joshua Lockwood (English-born, 1729–1809) and Alexander Petrie (Scottish-born, 1717–1768), shrewdly structured their businesses to accommodate imports, which served as design sources and attracted customers who A 2011Winter Antiques Show Loan Exhibition