Object Number 1959.0794

Object Name

Looking glass or mirror

Category

Furniture

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Kneeland & Adams1 (Furniture maker)
09/17/1792-03/09/1795, American The two were in partnership from 1792-1795, when each established himself independently. The first advertisement of Kneeland & Adams appeared in the American Mercury, September 17, 1792. They again advertised in October and November 1793: "Kneeland and Adams Respectfully informs the Gentlemen and Ladies, that they can supply them with every kind of Cabinet work, on very short notice, as they have in constant employ the best workmen, from New York and Boston. They now have on hand, and ready for sale, an elegant assortment of Cabinet furniture, consisting of Parlour, chamber and Hall Chairs, Mahogany with swelled and concave seats, neatly covered with Satten-Hair seating-mahogany and cherrytree Desks and Book-Cases, ditto commode and Plain Beuroes..." The partnership apparently did no advertising in the Hartford papers in 1794, although they were advertising in the New Hampshire Journal during that year that they would "supply all sorts of fine furniture". On March 16, 1795 and again on March 23, the American Mercury contained the following: "The Co-Partnership of Kneeland & Adams is this day dissolved. Samuel Kneeland. Lemuel Adams. Hartford March 5, 1795". For more information, see Bjerkoe, "The Cabinetmakers of America," p. 139.

Place of Origin

Hartford, New Haven, Connecticut, New England, United States, North America

Date

1792-1795

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Label; Label on backboard; "KNEELAND & ADAMS,/ Cabinet and Chair-Makers, Hartford;/ HAVE constantly on hand, MAHOGANY FURNITURE, of the first quality;/ best warranted CLOCKS and TIME-PIECES; elegant LOOKING-GLASSES,/ of their own manufacturing; CABINET WORK of every kind may be had on very/ short notice, warranted equal to any made in America./ PRINTED BY ELISHA BABCOCK."

Materials

Mahogany veneer; Tulip poplar; Pine, white; Mahogany; Gesso; Gilt; Glass

Dimensions (inches)

37.62 (H) , 18.75 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

95.57 (H) , 47.63 (W)

Measurement Notes

OW is at case side base molding.

Object Description

Text available soon.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Montgomery, Charles F., et al. 1966 American Furniture: The Federal Period, in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.
• Published: no. 218.
[Article] Richards, Nancy E. 1968 "Furniture of the Lower Connecticut River Valley: The Hartford Area, 1785-1810". Winterthur Portfolio. (4)
• Published: pp. 1-26.
[Book] Adair, William. 1983 The Frame in America, 1700-1900: A Survey of Fabrication Techniques and Styles.
• Published: cat. no. 28.
[Web Site] 09/24/2015 Tin-Mercury Amalgam Mirrors - AIC Wiki. 2020 https://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/Tin-Mercury_Amalgam_Mirrors
•