Cradle

Date1727 (dated)

MediumWhite pine, leather

DimensionsOH: 28"; OW: 19 5/8"; OD: 38 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1951-455

DescriptionAppearance: rectangular cradle form, tapering in width and length from top to bottom; arched head and foot boards; straight sides; arched hood and hood rail; (replaced) shaped rockers with dowel-form medial brace; covered inside and out with brown leather secured with brass, dome-head nails; brass nails applied in tight serpentine pattern at outer edges of both side panels, straight line pattern on foot board and hood; date and initials worked into nail pattern; original brass bail handle applied to foot and head boards.

Construction: side panels nailed to foot and head boards and hood crest; two board hood nailed to top edges of extended section of side panels; rockers originally nailed to bottom board from inside.Label TextUpholsterers attended to more than seating furniture during the Eighteenth century. Bed "furniture" or hangings, coffins, and cradles were among their other concerns. This cradle, which bears the initials and birth year of its first unidentified occupant inscribed in decorative brass nails, is similar to other leather covered cradles from Boston. A related example descended in the family of Boston upholsterer Samuel Grant (1705-1784), who regularly used leather to cover unembellished chair frames for export to the southern colonies and the West Indies in the mid-eighteenth century.Inscription(s)NoMark(s)"JGW" outlined in nails on each side; "1727" outlined in nails on top of hood.ProvenanceAvis & Rockwell Gardiner, American Antiques