Colonial Expressions in the Georgian Era

Curving Outward, 1730-1760

The late baroque style was adopted in the central and western parts of the state as the second quarter of the eighteenth century progressed. It remained stylish into the 1770s and beyond.

The style was transmitted from Boston primarily through the immigration of craftsmen trained in the new styles and techniques of cabinetmaking. But craftsmen in communities such as Concord and elsewhere in the central and western parts of the state created their own idiosyncratic versions of the late baroque style. They often used maple and cherry (as opposed to walnut) as a primary wood.

As is the case in other periods, furniture in western Massachusetts is often related in design to pieces made in adjacent parts of Connecticut, especially along the Connecticut River Valley.

Selected Bibliography

• Hosley, William N., Jr., and Gerald W.R. Ward, eds. The Great River: Art and Society of the Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820. Hartford, Conn.: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1985. (See esp. essay on furniture by Philip Zea.)
• Kaye, Myrna. “Concord Case Furniture: Cabinetry Twenty Miles from the Bay.” In The Bay and the River, 1600-1900, ed. Peter Benes, 29-42. Boston: Boston University, 1982.
• Richards, Nancy E., and Nancy Goyne Evans, with Wendy A. Cooper and Michael Podmaniczky. New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods. Winterthur, Del.: Winterthur Museum, 1997.
• Wood, David F. “A Group of Concord, Massachusetts, Furniture.” Antiques 151, no. 5 (May 1997): 742-47.
• Wood, David F., ed. The Concord Museum: Decorative Arts from a New England Collection. Concord, Mass.: Concord Museum, 1996.