INFORMATION TO USERS

This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer.

The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction.

In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.

Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order.

ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. NOTE TO USERS

This reproduction is the best copy available.

UMI'

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. MAPLE OVER MAHOGANY:

NICHOLAS BIDDLE’S TASTE IN EMPIRE FURNITURE

1820-1844

by

Sarah Tapper

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of the Arts in Early American Culture

Spring 2001

Copyright 2001 Sarah Tapper All Rights Reserved

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1404595

__UMI ___ __ (§ )

UMI Microform 1404595 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. MAPLE OVER MAHOGANY:

NICHOLAS BIDDLE’S TASTE IN EMPIRE FURNITURE

1820-1844

by

Sarah Tapper

Approved: Brock Jobe, M.A. Professor in charge o is on behalf of the Advisory Committee

Approved: (2 - JameS/C/ Curtis, Ph.D. Director of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture

Approved: ConradoM. Gempes^w/ n, Ph.D. Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Planning

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My study of the furniture at Andalusia would not have been possible without the support and assistance of my colleagues, friends and family. First I must thank J. Ritchie Garrison, for suggesting Andalusia as a possible thesis topic, and Wendy Cooper who guided my initial investigation. Without the generosity of James Biddle this project would never have been possible. For opening his family home and allowing a stranger access to family

possessions and papers, my gratitude to him is immeasurable. He and David Atkinson have extended every hospitality to me and made this project enjoyable in ways I never

anticipated. To my thesis advisor, Brock Jobe, I cannot say how much I value the knowledge, time, support and patience he gave to me during this process. As my advisor and my teacher his enthusiasm for this field has been truly inspiring. A special thanks is do to Alexandra Kirtley. She sets a standard for commitment, enthusiasm and encouragement that I can only hope to reach. At my most frustrated moments she was an experienced voice of reason, and she generously shared all information she found related to this topic. Page Talbott, Roger Moss, Gail Winkler, and Peggy Hunt all provided valuable suggestions which helped focus my research and led me to important resources. At Winterthur, Jeannine Disviscour in the Joseph Downs Manuscript Collection and Burt Denker in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection provided invaluable assistance and encouragement. Neville Thompson’s knowledge of the Winterthur Library’s

111

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. collections is truly amazing, only equaled by the invaluable assistance she provides baffled graduate students. The staff at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Library Company of Philadelphia also have my sincere appreciation. The friendship and support of my nine classmates have made the last two years

pure joy. We have shared our frustrations and our successes, and I count on knowing

them as friends and colleagues for many years. A special thanks you to my roommate

Tova Brandt, who bore the brunt of many a frustration with good humor and support.

And to Kate John - her friendship, laughter, and good advice were an unexpected gifts, and I could not be more grateful to she that bestowed them. For my family — Mom, Dad, Laura, and Tom — the knowledge of their love and support is the one true constant in my life. As I began this endeavor two years ago, and

as I begin another now, the comfort of their unconditional support helps me face all new

challenges.

iv

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES...... vi

ABSTRACT...... vii

NICHOLAS BIDDLE AND HIS ANCESTORS...... 1

NICHOLAS BIDDLE’S FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND THEIR FURNITURE... 12

PATTERNS OF PATRONAGE...... 21

NICHOLAS BIDDLE’S PREFERANCE FOR MAPLE...... 33

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 55

APPENDIX: FURNITURE CATALOGUE OF SELECT BIDDLE FURNITURE...... 62

v

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Jane Biddle’s Music Stand...... 47

Figure 2. Andalusia, circa 1840...... 48

Figure 3. Andalusia, West Entrance ...... 49

Figure 4. Gothic Cottage at Andalusia...... 50

Figure 5. Craig Family Sofa, circa 1800-1815...... 51

Figure 6. Craig Family Dining Table, circa 1800-1815...... 52

Figure 7. Chinese Table, circa 1800-1820...... 53

Figure 8. Candelabra, circa 1830-1840...... 54

vi

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT

Nicholas Biddle was a President o f the Second Bank of the United States, a Francophile,

a proponent of Greek architecture, and one of the most famous men of his day. His

family traveled in the fashionable circles of Philadelphia. In order to play his role in

society Biddle filled his homes with material possessions. While these purchases

represented the tools needed to “fit-in” with his own social class, the specific

characteristics of those objects reveal Biddle as a man with an individual aesthetic.

Extant furniture at Andalusia, Biddle’s country estate, in combination with 1820s and

1830s expense books, formed the basis for research into Biddle’s personal taste. This

thesis analyzes (1) what influenced Biddle's choices, and (2) how the extant furniture

suggests his taste reflected or deviated from social and material trends.

vii

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 1 NICHOLAS BIDDLE AND HIS ANCESTORS

The political and social prominence that characterized Nicholas Biddle’s life had precedents in the lives of his ancestors. Encouraged by friends and Quaker persecution in

England, William Biddle (1630-1712) made his first purchase of land in the colonies in 1676. From William Penn, Biddle purchased one-half share of the Province of West

Jersey. In 1681, at the age of 50, William and his wife, Sarah Kempe Biddle (1634-1709) emigrated from London. Six additional purchases of land between 1677 to 1691, before and after his arrival in the colony, brought Biddle total ownership of over 40,000 acres of Jersey.1 His extensive holdings made William Biddle one of the most prominent men in the colony, and he held several administrative posts dining his lifetime, including Justice

of the Peace and membership in the General Assembly and the Council of Proprietors. William I’s estate, called Mount Hope, which overlooked the Delaware River

between Burlington and Bordertown, passed to his son William II (1669-1743). William II and his wife Lydia Wardell Biddle had seven children. William EH (1697-1756), from whom Nicholas Biddle descended, and his brother John moved to Philadelphia in 1730.

William El originally went to live with a “Mr. Griffiths” one of the city’s merchants.

According to his son Charles, “My father [William HI] was unfortunate from his first

1 James Biddle, “Address of James Biddle,” inBiddle Anniversary: Celebrating the 250th Anniversary o f the arrival in America of William and Sarah Kempe Biddle, ed. Nicholas Biddle (Philadelphia: The Engle Press, 1931) 4.

1

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. entering into business,”2 failing to establish a large legacy for his children. On Christmas Eve, 1745 William EH’s wife Mary Scull Biddle gave birth to their son Charles (1745-1821). His father’s failures did not deter Charles, and unlike William m , Charles found success as a merchant. An adventurous youth, Charles first went to sea

in May of 1763. Charles Biddle’s autobiography reveals that these voyages provided first-hand experience with the mercantile trade, which was later to become his

occupation.3 Despite his Quaker background Charles actively participated in the Revolutionary War and the building of government that followed. Membership in the Executive Council of Pennsylvania provided opportunities to associate with such prominent men as John Dickinson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington. These

political and financial connections would later serve Charles’s son Nicholas as he began

his own public career. Nicholas Biddle, bom in Philadelphia on January 8, 1786, became the most famous of Charles Biddle’s seven sons. Probably a child prodigy, Nicholas entered the University of Pennsylvania at age 10, completed his degree in three years, went on to

Princeton, where he graduated in 1801 as valedictorian. In 1804 Nicholas’s father arranged for him to travel to Europe as the secretary to General Armstrong, newly

appointed Minister of the United States to France. After completing his time with Armstrong, Biddle traveled to England, where he became friend and secretary to James Monroe, who was serving as United States Minister to England. In addition to beginning his public career, Nicholas Biddle’s European experience

2Charles Biddle, Autobiography of Charles Biddle, Vice President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania 1745-1821 (Philadelphia: privately printed, 1883) 1.

3Charles Biddle gives accounts of voyages to Spain, Fayal, Yucatan, and Hispaniola, the latter carrying a cargo of mahogany and logwood. Ibid.

2

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. shaped his personal interests. During his three years in Europe Nicholas traveled extensively. In France he witnessed the coronation of Napoleon. He traveled to Greece

and Italy, one of the first Americans to do so.4 These experiences stimulated a

Francophilia and interest in classical architecture that Nicholas would express in different

ways throughout his lifetime. Biddle returned to Philadelphia with evidence of these interests. Jacques Gerard Milbert, traveling in America in the late 1810s recorded that,

“Founded in 1805, the Academy of Fine Arts has a rather fine collection of plaster casts of classical statues in the Louvre. I was also pleased to see other casts of works by

Cartelier, Chaudet, and Baron Francois Frederic Lemot, as well as Canova’s Perseus.”5

A majority of those casts Nicholas Biddle brought back from France. Even in Greece Biddle came under a French influence, that of French counsul and antiquarian, Louis

Francois Sebastien Fauvel.6 Between his return from Europe in 1807 and 1810, when he began two terms in the state legislature, Biddle concentrated on literary pursuits. He edited the “Journals of

Lewis and Clark” and contributed on a regular basis to the journalPort Folio eventually becoming the editor. Through these activities Biddle remained in the public eye. During

his time in the legislature Biddle supported the re-charter of the Bank of the United States. At the end of his second term his old friend James Monroe appointed him a Government director of the Bank of the United States. In a letter to Monroe Biddle

4 See Anne Felicity Woodhouse, “Nicholas Biddle in Europe, 1804-1807,”Pennsylvania Magazine o f History and Biography 103:1 (January 1979).

5Jacques Gerard Milbert, Picturesque Itinerary o f the Hudson River and the Peripheral Parts o f North America, 1829-1830 (Reprint, trans. by Constance D. Sherman, Ridgewood, NJ: The Gregg Press, 1968) 272.

6Roger G. Kennedy,Greek Revival America (New York: Stewart Tabori & Chang, 1989) 169.

3

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. acknowledged the motivation for his appointment and his inexperience in financial matters: “I need not say that I consider this remembrance a proof of that uniform kindness & friendship on your part which I value so highly...I have however little concern with Banks...Yet I am unwilling to avoid any duty by which you think I can be of service.”7 Three years later, in 1822 he was elected President of the Bank. During his time in the state legislature, Nicholas Biddle met and married Jane

Craig of Philadelphia. Bom on April 6, 1793, Jane was the daughter of John and Margaret ‘Teggy” Craig. John Craig, like Charles Biddle, made his fortune in trade. Craig’s ships took American goods to Africa, Canton, South America and Europe and returned with textiles, wine, cork, and other consumer goods. The Craigs were sophisticated, well-traveled people, and their children grew up in high society which

included many French emigrants and diplomats. Jane Biddle’s closest childhood friend was Miss Adele Signoigne, daughter of French refugees from St. Domingo.

After they married in 1811, eighteen-year-old Jane Craig, and twenty-five-year-

old Nicholas Biddle, soon established their own place in Philadelphia society, the children of two socially and economically prominent families. In their Chestnut Street townhouse they entertained world famous personages, such as the General Lafayette, in addition to local Philadelphia society. An account of a party at the Biddles in 1814 by Harriet Manigault suggests that the Biddles intended to be leaders in Philadelphia society through their modem material possessions: “On Monday night we went to a ball at Mrs. N. Biddles’. It was very pleasant, but had one great drawback which was that the room smoked so excessively that we could hardly breathe. I don’t mean the smoke of a fire, but of lamps. They had some new fashioned colored glass lamps, which had a pretty

Nicholas Biddle to James Monroe, January 31, 1819,The Correspondence o f Nicholas Biddle dealing with National Affairs 1807-1844, ed. Reginald C. McGrane (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919) 12.

4

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. effect altho so disagreeable a one.”8 In his memoirs John Jay Smith wrote: “His

[Nicholas Biddle] house was the resort of the intellect of the country. John Quincy Adams, Webster, and the great politicians of the nation were entertained at his dinners, when coruscations of wit, and bright sallies abounding with anecdote and information

were continually occurring to enliven these festive gatherings....”9 These recollections suggest the social aspirations and achievements of the Biddles. In 1828, after several years of living at various addresses around Philadelphia, and more than ten years after purchasing Andalusia, Nicholas Biddle bought 215 Spruce

Street for $25,000.10 Built approximately nine years earlier by Whitton Evens, the

townhouse possessed the size and spaces necessary for Nicholas Biddle’s public role in Philadelphia society.11 Unlike Andalusia, 215 Spruce made no overt displays of Greek Revived taste. When compared to the carved capitals and cornices that decorate the

1830s parlor’s ceilings and doors at Andalusia, the same features in the townhouse appear plain and simple. A study of the townhouse’s floorplan reveals that both of the first and

second floors could be utilized for public functions. The hierarchy of finish in the townhouse suggests that the front second-floor room was the “best” room in the house. Placing this most public room on the front of the second floor reflected the organization of space seen in many British townhouses. It was an arrangement probably familiar to

Harriet Manigault, The Diary o f Harriet Manigault 1813-16 SI, eds. James S. Armentrout, Jr. and Virginia Armentrout (Rockland, ME: The Colonial Dames of America, Chapter II, 1976) 7.

9John Jay Smith,Recollections ofJohn Jay Smith Written by Himself (Philadelphia: privately printed, 1892) 206.

“Deeds, Department of Records, City of Philadelphia, PA. Microfilm.

uIt is unclear who designed 215 Spruce, and it does not conform to the plan of the typical Philadelphia townhouse. Today the town house is number 715 Spruce Street.

5

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Biddle from his time in England, and one that he knew how to use “correctly” for entertaining.

The Biddles used 215 Spruce as their home during the social season in Philadelphia, which took place during the winter. The Biddles were active participants, and expense books list numerous entries for tickets to plays, theatre, concerts, and operas. A number of entries record expenses for hosting parties and dances, including hiring

waiters, music, and French chefs, and buying extra supplies of food and wine.12 In February 1839 Sidney George Fisher recorded the first ball of the season at 215 Spruce

Street: “In the early part of the evening it was insufferably hot and crowded. When the

supper rooms upstairs however were thrown open, it was very pleasant. The rooms were well-lighted and music good, and everyone very gay.”13 This description confirms that

both floors of the house served for entertaining. Frank Johnson, a well known African- American band leader, may have provided the good music noted by Fisher. Johnson’s band played in London in 1837 and at the Philadelphia Museum the following years.14 Nicholas Biddle made payments to Johnson ranging from six dollars to sixteen dollars. Besides the Biddles many prominent Philadelphia families employed Johnson for private parties, including the Willings. The Biddles and their guests often provided their own music. On January 28, 1840 Sidney George Fisher attended a “musical party at Mrs. Nick Biddle’s.” The scene

I2Nicholas Biddle Expense Book 1833, The Andalusia Foundation. The entry for March 26 lists “A. Fopard French cook for 3 dinners $9” and “Augustin French cook for dinner on the 13th $10.25.”

l3Sidney George Fisher,A Philadelphia Perspective: The Diary o f Sidney George Fisher Covering the Years 1834-1871, ed. Nicholas B. Wainwright (Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1967) 74-75.

l4Ibid, 70f. Johnson was particularly well known for his military and dance music.

6

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. was “not crowded & gay & handsome, Miss Pardi played on the harp, Mrs. J. F. F & Mrs. Pierce Butler on the piano, & afterwards Mrs. Willing sang some of her delightful songs & accompanied herself on the harp & piano.”15 As a young woman Jane Biddle learned

to play the harp and the piano, one of the important “accomplishments” necessary for a

lady of society. Although the piano and harp no longer exist in the collection of furniture, we know that in November of 1836 Biddle paid five hundred dollars to Joseph Plick for a “piano from France.”16 It is interesting that this is the only reference to imported furniture in any of the expense books for the 1830s. Earlier expenses for piano

repair, testify to the continued presence of this instrument as a piece of furniture in the

house. There are no expense book references to harps, but clearly one resided in the house. While the major instruments cannot be clearly described, Jane Biddle’s music stand still exists at Andalusia (See Figure 1). Made of mahogany with a lyre-shaped rack and gilt decoration the stand can be broken down into three parts for easy mobility. Although each house provided the major instruments, a collapsible stand could be carried

to the musical parties like those described above. Books of hand-copied music, some

bound by T. Desilver and G. Willig17, as well as printed sheet music, are still at Andalusia. A lyre-like stringed instrument was also recently discovered in the bam at Andalusia. Probably owned by Jane Biddle, it is a shape and type of instrument very much in the Classical style and it fit well into the architecture and furnishings found at

Andalusia and 215 Spruce Street. The ability to play music and possess the furnishings

15Ibid„ 95.

I6Nicholas Biddle Expense Book 1836, The Andalusia Foundation. Biddle itemized the payment as “Expenses pd C.A. Davis 71.66” and “Cost to Mr. Plick 428.34.”

17Nicholas Biddle Expense Books.

7

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. necessary to provide it are just one example of the Biddles’ social standing and context.

In addition to providing fashionable entertainment in town, the Biddles also

invited guests to their country estate, Andalusia. Biddle’s father-in-law John Craig purchased the farm and property on the banks of the Delaware in 1795. The original structure, probably not much more than a farm house, was named Craig Hall and then

renamed Willow Bank in 1797 apparently as a result of renovations to the property, hi

1801 the estate received the name Andalusia, perhaps as a tribute to the homeland, of John

Craig’s Spanish business partner Don Francisco Caballero Sarmiento. Andalusia as it stands today began when John Craig hired Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1807 to do

extensive remodeling. Octagonal bays at each end of the riverfront side expanded the dining room and parlor, and on the land side one-story wings increased the overaU

dimensions of the house. John Craig died in 1807 but his estate worth $382,000 allowed

the work to continue and to be completed almost a year later.18 Seven years later Margaret Craig died and to her daughter Jane Biddle she gave “the whole of my lot with my Dwelling House furniture &C in Chestnut Street,” and to “my dear and much esteemed son in law Nicholas Biddle I give and bequeath the sum of twenty thousand

Dollars to him and his heirs for ever.”19 Nicholas Biddle borrowed from that legacy a few months later, when he bought Andalusia from the Craig estate for $17,000.20 For more than fifteen years the Biddles used Andalusia much as it was, a summer

18Nicholas Biddle Wainwright,Andalusia: Countryseat o f the Craig Family and o f Nicholas Biddle and His Descendents (Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1976) 7.

19Margaret Craig, Will 1814. Department of Records, City of Philadelphia, PA. Microfilm.

“Wainwright, 19.

8

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. home, just thirteen miles up the Delaware River from Philadelphia, hi 1833 Nicholas

Biddle hired Thomas U. Walter, whom he had worked with on the building of Girard College, to once again revise Andalusia. Like the college Andalusia reflected Biddle’s deep interest in Greek architecture. Walter added two new parlors to the riverside front

of the house, two two-story wings on the opposite side, and enlarged the third floor.

Twelve Doric order columns enclosed the riverfront facade (See Figures 2 and 3). The renovated house presented a new Greek face to all traffic on the riverfront.21 Today it is considered by many to be the best example of domestic Greek Revival design in America.

When Biddle began to expand Andalusia in 1833 his personal power corresponded closely to the power of the Bank of the United States. John Jay Smith

wrote that “Mr. Biddle was the observed of all observers, and was calledEm the peror”21 The Bank provided a uniform currency and controlled the amount of credit its state

branches could extend. This high level of control became the point of attack by the agrarian Jacksonians. They saw the central bank as an aristocratic institution with a

chokehold on the ability of local independent businesses to grow. Unfortunately Nicholas Biddle fit easily into the agrarian stereotype of aristocratic business. Between 1832 and 1836 Biddle fought for the re-charter of the Bank, and failed. Re-established as

the Bank of Pennsylvania, without the national government as its major depositor, the institution struggled for survival. In an attempt to save it, Biddle invested his own funds

in the Bank’s ventures into railroads, factories, and the annexation of Texas. Biddle

2lIbid., 24. According to Wainwright all architectural improvements to Andalusia during 1835 and 1836, including the grotto and billiard room, cost a total o f $14,660.

“Smith, 206.

9

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. resigned in 1839, and the Bank failed three years later.23 Biddle’s closest friends stood by him, for a while. He had put his own fortune and the Bank’s money into the same investments, and both were ruined by their failure. Biddle eventually sold Andalusia, but the trustees of his wife’s estate purchased the property for his family.24 By 1840 social pressure, and economic difficulties, forced

Nicholas Biddle to remove himself and his family permanently to Andalusia. From the death of Charles Biddle in 1821 at least until 1840, Biddle received irregular payments of

$400 to $2500 from his father’s estate.25 This legacy in addition to his wife’s fortune supported the family, but the situation was dire enough to force Biddle to melt down a Fletcher and Gardiner silver service presented to him by the stockholders of the Bank.26 The last years of his life were filled with illness and some dejection. He wrote in his will

that “All that I possess in the world I hereby bequeath to her whom I most love in it, my dear wife as her sole and absolute property.”27 After her husband’s death Jane Biddle purchased a house in town on Pine Street, but traveled to Europe and around the United States in an attempt to improve her spirits. Mrs. Biddle had begun a building project of her own, a gothic villa less than one hundred yards from the main house at Andalusia (See Figure 4). It provided an additional summer retreat for family and guests. Jane

23 Bray Hammond, “The Second Bank of the United States.”Historic Philadelphia: From the Founding Until the Early Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1953) 83-85.

24Wainwright, 46.

“Charles Biddle, Will and Estate 1821. Department of Records, City of Philadelphia, PA. Microfilm.

“Fisher, 75f.

“ Quoted by Wainwright 23.

10

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Biddle died at Andalusia on August 12,1856. The six children of Nicholas and Jane Biddle jointly inherited Andalusia. All of

them considered it home at various points in their adult lives. Edward, Charles John, and John Craig Biddle, all married and gained success in business, the military, and law, respectively. Two unmarried daughters, Adele and Jane, remained at Andalusia full time,

for many years attending to their mother’s needs. When Jane died in 1915, the last of the Biddle children, the property had not undergone significant remodeling or re-fiirnishing since the 1830s Walter additions. Sidney George Fisher, who visited the house in 1859, noted that “The house is of Grecian architecture,...It is large, with many rooms handsomely furnished in the manner of thirty years ago.”28 The continuity of the family

and of their reduced economic conditions, meant that much of the taste of Nicholas

Biddle was saved from loss or destruction during the Victorian era. The following chapters discuss how those furnishings came to Andalusia, how they fit into the context

of the Empire style, and what factors influenced Biddle’s purchases.

28Fisher, 337.

11

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 2

NICHOLAS BIDDLE’S FAMILY, FRIENDS AND THEIR FURNITURE

The extant furniture at Andalusia represents the combined decisions of Nicholas Biddle himself, his ancestors, his friends, and his descendents. In order to evaluate the furniture related to Nicholas Biddle those objects collected by his descendents must first

be eliminated. The depleted fortunes of Nicholas Biddle divided between his six children meant no individual possessed the resources to re-decorate Andalusia, and the house remained relatively unchanged during the remainder of the nineteenth century. In 1880 Sidney George Fisher noticed that “the place shows want of keeping, tho it is not neglected or slovenly...would be improved by renewal & repair.”1 Another fifty years passed before any significant amount of new objects furnished the “Big House” at

Andalusia. Charles Biddle, grandson of Nicholas, and his wife Letitia (nee Glenn) took sole possession of the property in 1916. Between their purchases and items inherited from the Glenn family of Baltimore, several “new” pieces of furniture came to Andalusia. An uncle, John Glenn made bequests of a Louis XV style ebonized table and a Baltimore mahogany “Grecian” couch. Letitia Biddle’s Baltimore roots probably influenced their

decision to display the couch in Andalusia, as well as their purchase of a mahogany sideboard with carved heads, made by Edward Priestly, a Baltimore cabinetmaker.2 The

‘Fisher, 362.

2For more information on the work of Edward Priestly see Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley,

12

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. purchases of this couple’s son and daughter-in-law, Charles J. and Katherine Legendre Biddle, are too numerous to discuss in detail but mainly included lamps, rugs, and decorative objects other than furniture. Gifts to and purchases by their son James Biddle,

the present owner of Andalusia, helped to fill the rooms. A Boston mahogany pier table, a pair of Massachusetts card tables, a maple sewing table labeled by Philadelphia cabinetmaker Joseph Beale, a French Gueridon with three swan legs, a gilt decorated

center table, a set of four painted/stenciled klismos-style chairs, andSecretaire a a Abbattant are all pieces purchased by or given to James Biddle. They are all appropriate

to the house during the time of Nicholas Biddle, but it is important to note that his great- great-grandson acquired them. When Nicholas Biddle purchased Andalusia in 1814 it no doubt came with some

furniture. The 1807 inventory of the estate of John Craig gives some indication of the furnishings and use of the rooms at the first house on the property3. As Craig died before

the completion of the Latrobe renovations, the inventory documents a four-room house. The presence of a mahogany sideboard and dining table, and six “common chairs” in the

ground-level northeast room suggest a space designated specifically for dining. The other ground-floor room contained a gilt-framed looking glass, four mahogany card

tables and “seven common Windsor Chairs” that suggest a parlor space. Bedsteads, mattresses, toilet glasses, and bureaus all reveal that the upstairs rooms served as bedrooms. These two second-story rooms also contained a total of 25 “common” chairs. These “common” chairs, very likely all Windsor chairs, appear to be the only seating available at Andalusia. Their simplicity no doubt contrasted with the expensive

“A New Suspect: Baltimore Cabinetmaker Edward Priestley,”American Furniture 2000 (Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation, 2000) 100-151.

3John Craig Inventory, Biddle Family Papers, The Andalusia Foundation.

13

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. mahogany of the other furniture in the house.4 When compared with the inventory of Craig’s townhouse the furniture at Andalusia seems “second-class.” Like Andalusia the townhouse contained a specific room for dining, but there the mahogany sideboard and dining table were valued at $25 and $16 respectively compared to $10 and $6 for the same forms at Andalusia. The difference in these values suggests that the pieces at Andalusia may have been devalued by age and outdated style, which prompted their removal to the country house. Once again the lack of detailed description makes it difficult to decipher which pieces, if any, at Andalusia today came from the estate of John Craig. Family history suggests that only the painted bowback Windsor chairs now at the

Gothic cottage can possibly be identified as some of those original “common” chairs. In addition, the two painted armchairs with cane seats, presently in the Yellow Parlor of

Andalusia (See Catalog 10), may be the “2 cane Arm chairs” listed in the dining room of John Craig’s town house. The division of the furniture among heirs, who moved away from Andalusia or sold the most valuable pieces, may explain why the large mahogany

pieces disappeared from the house. Nicholas Biddle acquired some pieces of furniture from another Craig in-law. The carved mahogany sofa with winged feet belonged to Biddle’s brother-in-law James Craig (See Figure 5).5 A pencil sketch passed down in the Biddle family documents the

4This contrast between fine and common furniture can be seen in other country homes, including Cedar Grove, the “country seat” of the Paschall and Morris families. The 1831 inventory of Isaac Wistar Morris reveals that Cedar Grove was filled with a combination of a mahogany sideboard, tables, and beds and Windsor chairs as the only seating furniture. Isaac Wistar Morris, Will and Inventory 1831, Department of Records, City of Philadelphia, PA. Microfilm.

sThese pieces probably came from the estate of Margaret Craig, who requested in her will that Jane Biddle allow James Craig to select certain pieces of furniture he wanted from the estate.

14

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Craig ownership. Edward Williams Clay (1799-1857) drew James Craig reclining on the

sofa. A note by Craig’s nephew, attached to the cartoon, states that the subject was drawn at his home on Chestnut Street above 8th Street. Also depicted in the drawing is the large expansion dining table also at Andalusia (See Figure 6). These objects apparently came into Biddle’s possession after his brother-in-law’s death on January 28, 1832.6 At an earlier time the family clearly considered these objects fashionable enough

for town, but Biddle removed them directly to his country residence. Other family members who donated regularly to the Biddle’s furnishings included

Commodore James Biddle, Nicholas’s brother. The Commodore retained no personal permanent residence of his own in Philadelphia, but stayed with the Biddles when he returned from trading voyages. Although the fascination with the Orient had passed by

the 1830s, the Biddles owned lacquered tables believed to be brought back from China by

the Commodore (See Figure 7).

Like many Philadelphians, Nicholas Biddle also acquired furniture at auctions. On April 25, 1836, near the completion of renovations at Andalusia, Biddle records payment to CJ. Wolbert for furniture bought at “Mr. Powel’s sale.” Wolbert served as auctioneer for the public sale of the house and furnishings belonging to Colonel John

Hare Powel. In 1832 Powel built his new house on the comer of 13th Street and Locust Street in Philadelphia. Designed by William Strickland, Powel’s town house, unlike Nicholas Biddle’s, directly interpreted the plain Grecian style. TheCatalogue o f the Household Furniture part o f the Books, Plate, Wines &c. of Col. J. Hare Powel to be sold at Public Sale... on Tuesday, 19th April, 1836 documents the high quality and style of the furnishings, many of which had never been used.7 From this sale Biddle bought two zinc

6The drawing by Edward Williams Clay is the property of The Andalusia Foundation.

7C.J. Wolbert.Catalogue o f the Household Furniture part of the Books, Plate, Wines &c.

15

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. wine coolers, two side chandeliers, a hall lamp, a maple wash stand, a zinc basin and

bucket, and two candelabras for a total of $417, of which the candelabras alone cost

$270.8 These may be the candelabras extant at Andalusia (See Figure 8). The majority of his purchases involve lighting, suggesting a need to be filled that did not include furniture.

During the first years of the Nicholas Biddle ownership of Andalusia, his

furnishing requirements in general appear small or secondary to other concerns. For the

first five years Biddle spent most of his time in Harrisburg as a state representative.

Expense books do not exist for years prior to 1821, and perhaps none were kept until

Andalusia and its farms became a true concern and expense for Biddle. It may be more than coincidence that Biddle began to record his purchases during his first years at the Second Bank of the United States, when his public persona grew in importance as it

became more prominent in the community. In 1823, the year of his election to President

of the Bank, the expense book records a very large increase in spending for furnishings and interior decoration. Biddle paid Blanchard Haley & Beatty for “paper & papering”, the Lapsely brothers for carpeting, and John Rea for new curtains. For serving his guests

he purchased ‘Trench china” from R. Tyndale at a cost of $785.9 Lighting fixtures represent the largest percentage of the purchases in 1823. As a guest at many social events in Philadelphia, Sidney George Fisher’s frequent comments about rooms being

o f Col. J. Hare Powel to be sold at Public Sale... on Tuesday, 19th April, 1836, Powel Papers, Box 17, Folder 4, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. As cited by Thomas Gordon Smith,John Hall and the Grecian Style in America (New York: Acanthus Press, 1996) 35.

8Expense Book 1836.

Nicholas Biddle Expense Book 1823, The Andalusia Foundation.

16

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “well lit” suggests the importance and even prestige associated with good lighting. The

chandeliers, glass candlesticks, and astral lamps purchased in 1823 all reflect Nicholas Biddle’s increasing need to entertain and impress guests as his role at the Bank grew more important and prominent. Although Biddle did not record whether the purchases

went to Andalusia or to the town house, they probably signal a change in the use of both

dwellings from mainly private spaces to more public spaces. Furniture given to Biddle by family members did not reflect his personal taste or

influences. Before discussing his choices it is helpful to establish what forces shaped those decisions. The Biddles and Craigs moved in the highest circles of Philadelphia

society. Since the last decade of the eighteenth century that society increasingly included French ex-patriots, initially aristocrats fleeing the French Revolution and after 1815 former supporters of Napoleon from all classes. The Craig family in particular maintained close ties with the Philadelphia French community, as discussed in the first chapter. Francophilia gripped many Americans in the years after the Revolution.

Thomas Jefferson and General Lafayette certainly promoted the phenomenon. When

Lafayette returned to the United States in 1824, he made a grand tour up and down the Atlantic coast to great accolation. As early as 1793 the French community in Philadelphia rallied to support recent emigres with the formation of the Societe Francaise de Bienfaisance, whose original members included Lewis Clapier, Stephen Girard, Anthony and Simon Chaudron, and Claude Amable Brasier.10 Nicholas Biddle obviously

sympathized with this group’s efforts. His account books record numerous donations to charity including thirty dollars given in 1828 for ‘Trench woman in Widows Asylum.”11

■“Beatrice B. Garvan, Federal Philadelphia: The Athens o f the Western World 1725-1825 (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art) 57.

"Nicholas Biddle Expense Book 1828, The Andalusia Foundation.

17

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Nicholas Biddle knew the two most prominent Frenchmen in Philadelphia in the early nineteenth century, Stephen Girard and Joseph Bonaparte. Girard, originally a poor emigre, through trade earned a fortune large enough to make him the richest man in Philadelphia. Despite his wealth Philadelphia high society did not easily accept him, but by the end of the eighteenth century Girard featured prominently in the social and

political life of the city.12 A fellow member of what E. Digby Baltzell called “The Proper

Philadelphia Bankers” class13, Girard founded his own bank, held the largest amount of stock in the First Bank of the United States, and used his personal fortune to help the United States through the War of 1812. Girard and Biddle shared other interests besides money. In 1798 Girard purchased his own country house and farm. From this purchase

grew a genuine interest in farming and experimentation with domestic and imported

plants.14 These activities paralleled Biddle’s own interest in farming and experimentation with grapes. Both men became members of the Horticultural Society and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society. That the two men knew each other well seems apparent from Nicholas Biddle’s role as trustee for the bequest left by Girard for the

building of Girard College. Girard used his patronage as a means to support his fellow French emigres.

French cabinetmakers Anthony Quervelle and Michel Bouvier both provided him with

furniture. Bouvier received patronage from the other prominent Frenchman in Philadelphia at the time, Joseph Bonaparte, brother to the Emperor Napoleon. Bonaparte

12Wendy Wick, “Stephen Girard A Patron of the Philadelphia Furniture Trade” (Master’s thesis: University of Delaware, 1977) 7-9.

13E. Digby Baltzell, Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making o f a National Upper Class (Glenco, IL: The Free Press, 1958) 89.

l4Ibid„ 18.

18

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. bought a house at the comer of South Ninth and Spruce Streets, just a few blocks away

from Biddle’s town house on Spruce between Seventh and Eighth Streets. Biddle and Bonaparte developed a close relationship, evident from Bonaparte’s gift of a large painting entitled “Wolf Hunt”, which he thought “will go well in your parlor or in your dining-room.”15 Bonaparte built his country estate Point Breeze in Bordertown, New Jersey, and Michel Bouvier provided the furniture for its initial decoration and

redecoration after a fire destroyed the original building and all its contents. Biddle’s relationships with these two men, and what he saw in their homes, no doubt influenced the way he distributed his own patronage to craftsmen. The French elite were not the only ones to use the services of French trades men and women. Robert Morris, also one of the wealthiest men in Philadelphia, preferred French services over

those of his fellow Americans. Morris employed “J.B. Le Maire as fencing master for his

son Charles, Monsieur Sicard as dancing instructor, or F. Poirez as hairdresser.”16 Morris also imported French furniture, china, and millinery directly from France.17 Morris’s

choices provided an example Biddle appeared to follow. On October 2, 1828 Biddle recorded a payment of sixteen dollars to “Capt Robinson of New York duties & charges

on Jane’s things from France - clothes.”18 The expense book for 1833 alone record

payments to French cooks Augustin and A. Fopard, to V. Guillon for dancing lessons for Edward, Craig, and Meta Biddle, to the French gardener at Andalusia Pierre Milet, and to

I5Fisher, 75f.

I6Garvan, 58.

17Ibid„ 57-58.

l8Expense Book 1828.

19

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. L. Veron for lamps and other furnishings.19 A set of French porcelain purchased by the Biddles is still displayed at Andalusia. By far the largest part of the patronage of French services concerned the toilet of Mrs. Jane Biddle. A. Gallet provided hairdressing & perfumery, Madame. Gaubert a bonnet, and B. Philepeatu, Mrs. Lejee, and Mrs. Mejnard all sold clothes to Nicholas Biddle for his wife.20 ClearLy all needs could not be provided by French businesses, but for those associated with appearances, whether in their home or

garden, behavior (dancing), or person (clothes, hair, etc_), French providers appear to be the first choice. Yet there is little evidence that Biddle patronized Quervelle or Bouvier, the two most prominent French cabinetmakers in the city. The will of his daughter Jane

suggests that a labeled Quervelle sofa table at Andalusia was purchased by Nichlolas

Biddle, but the purchase is not recorded in the expense books. The only recorded purchase from Bouvier is for a marble bath tub. The designs of Biddle’s extant furniture

are not particularly French. The following chapters exaimine Biddle’s deviation in the area of furniture from his evident Francophilia. An evaluation of the designs, materials, and makers chosen by Biddle offer some sense of his individual taste within the prevailing style and social context.

I9Expense Book 1833.

20Ibid.

20

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 3 PATTERNS OF PATRONAGE

During the years recorded by extant expense books, Nicholas Biddle purchased

furniture from a total of thirty-nine different craftsmen. Biddle only specifically

identifies five of these thirty-nine as making furniture designated for Andalusia. Logically the house required more furniture than these five orders could provide. This conclusion suggests that furniture moved back and forth between town house and country house.1 Therefore investigation into all the cabinetmakers may provide some indication

of how Biddle’s patronage shifted over time. Most of these purchases do not survive, and of the extant pieces only one object,

the sofa table labeled by Anthony Quervelle, gives any clear evidence of maker. Interestingly there is no record of Biddle making a direct purchase of any form from Quervelle, although it may have existed in a now missing expense book. Also possible is

that Biddle purchased the table from the “fancy furniture ware-house” of Gardiner, Veron & Co., who we know sold their fellow Frenchman Quervelle’s products. The use of a

middleman may explain the presence of the label. Some of Biddle’s contemporaries chose to furnish their homes with imported

‘Biddle recorded payments in his expense books for “moving” back to town in the fall. The seasonal movement of furniture between country and town is further documented by receipts from Loud & Bros. Piano Company to James J. Skerret, who owned a country house, Loudoun, in Germantown. On June 5, 1833 Loud & Bros, billed Skerret $5 for “Removing a piano to Germantown.” On November 9 of the same year they billed Skerret another $5 for “Removing a Piano from the Country.” Loudoun Collection, Box 38, Folder 1833, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

21

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. furniture, particularly that from France, the source o f the most popular furniture designs.

In February of 1841 Sidney George Fisher visited the home of a Mrs. Hutchinson, who lived on Spruce Street only a few blocks from the Biddle townhouse. He described the house as “the most beautiful I ever saw.All the furniture from Paris of the most costly description and in admirable taste and keeping.”2 Other peers of Biddle, including John

Hare Powel, George Cadwalader and John Ashhurst, imported large amounts of French

furniture.3 Edward Shippen Burd owned a suite of eight chairs and a sofa attributed to an

unknown Philadelphia maker, yet clearly in the French style, with the same white and gilt

finish as the Cadwalader suite/ Obviously French furniture impressed Americans and Biddle could afford to purchase it, but we know of only one piece owned by Biddle.5 Although in many ways Biddle was a Francophile, in his choice of furniture he appears to

have remained almost completely loyal to American makers. Why did Biddle apparently favor American over imported furniture? Biddle, like many people at the time, possibly made his decision based on some sense of political correctness. As the nature of the cabinetmaking industry changed and journeymen found it more difficult to earn a living they organized the Pennsylvania Society of Journeymen Cabinetmakers for their own

protection. These native craftsmen strongly objected to the importation of furniture, even

2Fisher, 116.

3The Cadwalader suite of furniture is extant at Strawberry Mansion, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, and in his diary Sidney George Fisher described the suite: “divan, ottomans, etc white satin embroidered with crimson...Here such a style of furniture is ridiculous.”, 44. The bills for the Ashhurst furniture, purchased in Paris in 1839 are in the Ashhurst Family Papers Collection 1972a box 1 Receipted bills 1837-1869, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The Powel auction catalogue of 1836 records “2 Massive Pier Tables” and “1 Centre Table” that were “made in Paris.” Wolbert, 2.

“An armchair from this suite is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1955.86.4).

5Sidney George Fisher describes an imported French chair at the Biddle’s townhouse. Fisher, 115.

22

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. going so far as to stage demonstrations. Philip Hone recorded in his diary entry for April 29, 1835 that “The devil is in the people. A sale of French mahogany furniture recently imported took place at the City Hotel to-day. This being considered an interference with

the regular journeymen’s business, some of them went to the place where the furniture

was exhibited, and cut and scratched it in such a diabolical manner that the injury exceeds a thousand dollars.”6 Biddle may simply have feared for the safety of an investment in imported furniture. Expense books kept during the 1820s indicate that Nicholas Biddle purchased relatively little furniture during this decade. Those purchases he did make are notable in two ways: Biddle bought an extraordinary number of chairs during these years, and he began to patronize certain craftsmen with whom, in some cases, he would continue to deal with for almost fifteen years. In 1822 Biddle first recorded a purchase of 24 chairs

from William Haydon, for which he paid $57.7 Haydon advertised himself as a chairmaker and ornamental painter who sold drawing room, parlor and chamber chairs as

well as Grecian and fancy chairs.8 The next year Biddle paid James Mitchell $28 for “altering chairs.”9 Biddle gave

no indication if these were the Haydon chairs. Between 1823 and 1831 James Mitchell worked as a chairmaker and owner of a furniture manufactory at 135 Walnut Street. In 1823, the year of alterations to the Biddle chairs, a James Mitchell II also worked as a

6Philip Hone,The Diary o f Philip Hone 1821-1851, ed. Allan Nevins (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1936) 157.

’Nicholas Biddle Expense Book 1822, The Andalusia Foundation.

8Deborah Ducoff-Barone, “Philadelphia Furniture Makers 1816-1830”Antiques 145 (May 1994): 748.

9Expense Book 1823.

23

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “fancy chairmaker” at 10 and 12 Chesnut.10 Nicholas Biddle’s patronage of the Mitchell family would remain constant for the next 14 years. Four years later in 1827 Biddle paid Mitchell $12 for a single curled maple chair that must have been quite elaborate or heavily upholstered. In 1828 he purchased $99 worth of chairs, again from Mitchell. The 1828Book o f Prices for Philadelphia cabinet and chairmakers lists “Plain Chairs,

rounded with panel in the top rail, plain stay rail, with veneer or bead, per dozen 33.00”11,

suggesting that perhaps Biddle purchased 36 of this type of chair. Other patrons of the Mitchells included James J. Skerret of Loudoun and the artist John Neagle.12 Two years earlier, in 1826, Biddle bought chairs from Benjamin Booth for $73.

Like Haydon, Booth advertised Grecian, drawing room and fancy chairs for sale. Also like Haydon, Booth went out of business in 1826, preventing Biddle from continuing his

patronage of those craftsmen. Biddle’s final choice of chairmaker in the 1820s was William H. Stewart, who he paid for “new chairs and mending old ones.”13 Biddle would later purchase furniture from the partnership of Stewart and Sanderson. The expense books suggest that some of these chairs, especially those made by Haydon or Booth, were simple painted pieces or painted Windsor chairs. In 1827 Biddle paid William

l0Ducoff-Barone, 751.

nThe Philadelphia Cabinet and Chair Makers ’ Union Book o f Prices for Manufacturing Cabinet Ware, 1828 (Philadelphia: William Stavely (printer), January1828) 40-41.

I2Bill for $6 on November 15, 1832 for six chairs. Loudoun Collection, Box 38, Folder 1832, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Receipt for “mending chairs”, February 9, 1832. John Neagle Cashbook, Collection 2112, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

13Expense Book 1828. Stewart during this time worked as a chair and fancy-chair makers at 108 N. Front Street, in a 2-story shop of approximately 555 square feet. He shipped chairs to Charleston and Savannah. Ducoff-Barone, 753.

24

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Killingsworth $5.75 for painting chairs.14 The May 30, 1825 issue oThe f Bucks County Intelligencer and General Advertiser, announced the marriage of “KILLINGSWORTH,

Jr., William to Elizabeth Riley, both of Bristol Boro, by Issac Hicks, Esq. in Newtown.”ls Killingsworth was probably a local laborer without specific skills that Biddle hired due to his proximity to Andalusia.

In addition to a multitude o f chairs, Nicholas Biddle purchased a few “practical”

pieces of furniture. He bought two wardrobes, one from an unidentified cabinetmaker named R. Pattison, and the other for Mrs. Biddle from William B. Fling.16 These were clearly two very different wardrobes, priced at $18.50 and $70, respectively. The weight

and bulk of wardrobes meant they did not move between the town and the country, and the difference in their cost may suggest the intended location of each piece. The Fling

wardrobe must have been quite elaborate, as theBook o f Prices the following year listed

the base price for a seven foot long, six foot six inches high winged wardrobe at $30.17

While Fling closed his shop in 1831, Biddle did establish one other long term patronage relationship during these years. In 1828 he paid the partnership of Cook and Parkins for repairs to furniture in addition to purchasing a new washstand for $6, and a ladies writing

and work table for $25.18 It is interesting to note, that the 1828Book o f Prices now at the

,4Nicholas Biddle Expense Book 1827, The Andalusia Foundation.

15The Bucks County Intelligencer and General Advertiser, Marriage Notices Vol. 1 1804- 1834. ed. Frances Wise Waite (Doylestown, PA: Bucks Country Genealogical Society, 1986) 109.

I6Expense Books 1823 and 1827. William B. Fling worked as a cabinetmaker at 95 Walnut Street in a three-story shop of approximately 1,911 square feet. Ducoff-Barone, 747.

17Book o f Prices, 19-20.

l8Expense Book 1828.

25

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Library Company of Philadelphia is inscribed as the property of the firm of Cook and Parkins, and that the base prices for the forms purchased by Biddle were $1.87 1/2 and $2.12, respectively.19 The difference between the base price and the price paid suggests the elaborate nature of Biddle’s purchases. Although the partnership dissolved in 1833, Biddle continued to buy from each of the craftsmen individually in later years.

Five years before he paid Cook & Parkins Biddle purchased what he also

described as a “wash stand” for $3 from unidentified cabinetmaker D.E. Jones. Taking this comparison and the example of the wardrobes into account, we may see a pattern in which Biddle chose larger cabinetmaking concerns for his more expensive purchases,

while “settling” for smaller shops for smaller investments. The less expensive price may

indicate less elaborate pieces, which may in turn suggest use in the country. D.E. Jones and R. Pattison may have been as yet unidentified individual craftsmen who worked in the area immediate to Andalusia, which would explain why they are not listed in any

Philadelphia directories for the 1820s. In contrast, the exportation of furniture to Baltimore, Savannah and even South America by Fling, and Cook and Parkins, meant that these establishments required more space and staff to manufacture for local and

export markets. They probably retained a workforce who could offer a higher quality product with more sophisticated, and therefore expensive, designs and surface finishes. In the early 1830s a general shift occurs in the pattern. Biddle begins to make his less expensive purchases at businesses clearly identified as cabinet “warehouses.” The opposite of small shops run by an individual or two, warehouses employed many

craftsmen to produce a readily available stock of furniture. Due to his famous broadside, Joseph Meeks is probably the best known proprietor of a furniture warehouse. In

19Book o f Prices, 20, 33.

26

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Philadelphia Nicholas Biddle became a customer of the largest warehouse in that city,

John Hancock & Co.20 Hancock specialized in upholstered furniture, and a 1837 advertisement in the city directory illustrates an elaborate Grecian sofa with tufted seat. The same promotion indicates that Hancock offered the newest innovations in seating furniture, including spring seats.21 In 1833 Nicholas Biddle made his first purchases from Hancock & Co. including a general bill of $23.75 for “furniture” and $35 for a bedstead

and shades.22 The shades in the latter purchase were probably one of the “Venetian, Transparent and India Blinds” offered by Hancock.23 In the same year Biddle purchased

a $4 washstand from S.G. Lodge, who also owned a “Cabinet, Chair, & Sofa Warehouse” at 155 South Second Street.24 The account references during the 1830s become slightly

confusing as Biddle apparently used the word “furniture” both in its modem sense and in

the old-fashioned meaning to describe upholstery including bed hangings and curtains. In cases where this term is used in reference to craftsmen specifically designated as “upholsterers” in the city directories, it is interpreted using the latter definition. Biddle made one other purchase at Hancock & Co; recorded twice, he paid $44 for two Spanish chairs in 1836. The extant chair now at Andalusia is almost certainly one these two. The

20See David H. Conradsen, “The Stock-in-Trade of John Hancock and Company” American Furniture 1993, ed. Luke Beckerdite (Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation, 1993) 38-54.

21Desilver’s Philadelphia Directory and Strangers Guide for 1837 (Philadelphia: Robert Desilver, March 1837) np.

^Expense Book 1833.

23Desilver’s Philadelphia Directory and Strangers Guide fo r 1831 (Philadelphia: Robert Desilver, May 1831).

24Philadelphia Circulating Business Directory, arranged by J.B. Savage (Philadelphia: Morris’s Xylographic Press, 1838) 115.

27

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. pair are illustrated in a c.1910 photograph of the library at Andalusia.25 There is only one reference to furniture in the 1830s expense accounts that makes a distinction between purchases for “country” and “town.” In December of 1834, Biddle

recorded two payments for “furniture”, one to Alphonse Lejambre and the other to John Smith, in which the total bill is subdivided for country and town. In both cases the bill

for the country furniture totals at least four times the amount paid for town furniture.26

Biddle’s references to these purchases simply as “furniture” makes it impossible to definitely determine the characteristics that distinguished town from country furniture. Geography may have played some part in Biddle’s choice of Alphonse Lejambre, as his

shop, located at 85 South Second Street, stood opposite the Pennsylvania Bank. In 1834 Lejambre’s printed bills advertise him as an “upholsterer”, and the “furniture” referred to

by Biddle may represent payments for draperies, mattresses and installation of other textiles.27 Lejambre probably also provided the chair and sofa frames which he covered, and his business in furniture grew until his death in 1843, when the inventory of his stock lists chairs, tables, etageres, and sofas.28 Biddle’s peers also chose Lejambre. Joseph Bonaparte knew and employed Lejambre, and the 1840 sale of Colonel Powel’s

furniture lists a “Very superior French pattern Chair, iron frame, crimson moreen, made

“ Wainwright, 54.

“Nicholas Biddle Expense Book January 1834 - February 1836, The Andalusia Foundation. Lejambre received $127.77 and $24.90 for country and town furniture respectively. Biddle paid John Smith $189.50 and $40.20, for country and town respectively.

27Bill from Lejambre to JJ. Skerret. Loudon Papers, Collection 1971, Box 38, Folder 1834. Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

28Peter L. L. Strickland, ‘Tumiture by the Lejambre family of Philadelphia,”Antiques 113 (March 1978): 600.

28

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. by Lejambre”, the only reference to a specific maker in the catalog.29 Throughout the 1830s Biddle continued as a customer of the Mitchell family. The elder Mitchell evidently retired in 183130, but Biddle made further purchases from his son, totaling $242 between 1834 and 1837, the period of Andalusia’s remodeling. The only specific forms recorded among purchases are hall chairs for $21. James Mitchell II

went the way of most cabinet and chair makers and by 1839M'Elroy s Philadelphia Directory lists his establishment under ‘Tashionable Fancy Chair Warehouse(s).”31 Two

other businesses on that list also appear in Biddle’s expense accounts: J. Snyder and Stewart & Sanderson, who worked next door to each other at 105 and 107 Walnut Street. Despite being listed as specifically a chair manufactory, an advertisement for James Mitchell reveals that he also produced cabinet furniture including “White and Maple-Coloured French Bedsteads, Bureaus, Wardrobes, Washstands, Tables &c.”32

Other warehouses that Biddle patronized included James Kite, A. Hoehling, Koch & Co, Richard Parkin, Thomas Roberston, and C.H. and J.F. White. Biddle made all his purchases at these stores during the time he remodeled Andalusia. Between the years 1832 to 1838, Biddle shifted from making inexpensive purchases at these establishments to relying on them almost completely, often spending relatively large amounts of money. From Thomas Robertson he purchased a pier table for $95.33 And from J. White, who he

“ Strickland, 61 If; Col. Powel’s Sale - Arch St....April 30, 1840 By M. Thomas & Son, Auctioneers, Powel Papers, Collection 1582, Box 23, Folder 19, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

30Ducoff-Barone, 751.

3lM ’Elroy's Philadelphia Directory, 1839 (Philadelphia: A. M’Elroy, 1839) np.

32Circulating Business Directory, 112.

33Expense Book 1834-36.

29

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. recorded simply as “cabinetmaker,” he purchased $264.40 worth of unknown forms.34 Biddle appears to have favored the firm of Koch & Co.’s “Cabinet, Chair and Sofa

Manufactory” at 72 Walnut Street.35 We know that specifically he acquired a tea table and wardrobe from the company, as well as general “furniture” for a total price of

$278.50. Of the seventeen furniture and chair warehouses listed in the 1839 directory

Nicholas Biddle recorded transactions with almost half, which no doubt made him a frequent visitor to the furniture warehouse district centered on Walnut and South Second Streets.

Although in general Nicholas Biddle increasingly relied on “manufactories” rather than individual craftsmen, he did make some exceptions. The exceptions particularly occur in tandem with Biddle’s specific designation of purchases to furnish

Andalusia. Biddle paid Thomas Cook, half of the partnership of Cook and Parkins, $38 for a “bureau and bedstead for Andalusia” and $90 for a round table. The round table

may be the maple veneered center table with marble top extant at Andalusia (See Catalog

1). The marble would explain the high cost of Cook’s piece. Luke Babe also made a bedstead for Andalusia, for the relatively smaller price of eight dollars. Finally T.T. Ash

(Thomas T.) received $21.75 for his “furniture for Andalusia.” Ash is not listed in the city directories, but apparently resided there although personal connections to Bucks Co. may account for Biddle’s choice. Marriage and death announcements inBucks the County Intelligencer in 1815 and 1853, respectively, record the life o f a Thomas [T.] Ash “of Philadelphia”, but their publication in that paper suggests ties to the area around Andalusia.36 The “use” of Ash and Babe are unique occurrences in the Biddle’s

34Nicholas Biddle Expense Book 1837, The Andalusia Foundation.

33Circulating Business Directory, 111.

36 “8-30-1853 (date of issue) 8-22-1853 (date of death) ASH, Thomas T., of Philadelphia,

30

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. patronage. Why he chose these craftsmen particularly for Andalusia is unclear. There is one remaining mystery concerning Biddle’s patronage of craftsmen during the 1830s. Biddle recorded two payments to a Frederick Prack between 1834 and 1836. He gave Prack $42.50 for a maple bedstead and $32 for “sofas”, the plural nature of the latter suggesting a pair.37 None of the Philadelphia directories for that decade document a Frederick Prack, nor is he recorded in New York, Baltimore or Boston.

Census records also fail to provide any clues to his identity. The payment for two sofas strongly suggests that he made the pair of plain Grecian backless maple veneer sofas now at Andalusia. His name indicates a German heritage, which may support Charles

Venable’s belief that the popularity of maple in this period related to the transfer of Germanic traditions and designs by immigrant craftsmen. A clearer identity and further

research could establish why Biddle chose to take his business to Prack.

After comparing Biddle’s choice of craftsmen with the documented furnishings purchases of his peers, it is impossible to say if he started trends in terms of patronage, or

simply followed them. Some evidence points to the latter. Daniel W. Coxe, was a merchant and the brother of Tench Coxe, and also an acquaintance of Joseph Bonaparte.38 His accounts show that he patronized many of the same craftsmen as Biddle, including

in Wilkesbarre, Luzerne Co.”Death Notices Copiedfrom the Bucks County Intelligencer, Doylestown, Pennsylvania 1835-1860, Vol. IV. (Doylestown, PA: Bucks Country Historical Society, 1939) 6. “24 May 1815 ASH, THOMAS of Philadelphia to Sarah, daughter of Mrs. Mary Chapman, by Rev. Uriah DuBois in Doylestown (29 May 1815)” The Bucks County Intelligencer and General Advertiser, Marriage Notices Vol. 1 1804-1834, ed. Frances Wise Waite (Doylestown PA: Bucks Country Genealogical Society, 1986) 9.

37Expense Book 1834-1836.

38Fisher, 60. Sidney George Fisher records party at Coxe’s at which Bonaparte was a guest.

31

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. William B. Fling, John Jamison, Gardiner and Veron, and William Christie (upholsterer).39 James J. Skerret, a relative of the Logan and Norris families, like Biddle

and Coxe purchased furnishings from Veron and Christie, as well as Lejambre and James Mitchell.40 At the same time, these men were buying furniture from the firm of Charles H. and J. White, in the early 1830s, while Biddle did not make his first purchase from that shop until 1837. Either by choice or a lack of options, Biddle also chose cabinet

shops that catered to both the upper and middle classes. He made relatively small purchases from James Kite’s shop, alongside social peers such as Robert Vaux, and members of the middle-class, like artist John Neagle.41 Two trends stand out when considering how Nicholas Biddle chose to distribute his patronage among cabinetmakers. First is the gradual increase in dependence upon

furniture warehouses. It reveals that while the industrialization of production made furniture more affordable to a growing middle class, it must have also forced the classes

to mix to some degree, as warehouses became the rule rather than the exception, and the upper classes had fewer options. Second is Biddle’s loyalty to Philadelphia. While the accounts indicate he ordered personal items from New York and Boston, there is no clear evidence that furniture ever arrived from those ports. Whether his motives were

economic, political, or simply a matter of taste is unclear, but he continuously chose Philadelphia artisans, a fact that greatly affected the final appearance of his interiors.

39Daniel W. Coxe’s Receipt Book 1821-1849, Coxe Family Papers 2049, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

““Loudoun Papers, Collection 1971, Box 38, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

“"Neagle Cashbook; Fisher, 155.

32

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 4 NICHOLAS BIDDLE’S PREFERENCE FOR MAPLE

The most striking feature of the furniture purchased by Nicholas Biddle is the overwhelming use of maple as a primary wood and veneer. In previous, colonial revival,

publications the predominant presence of maple at Andalusia has been attributed to the female taste of Jane Biddle. In 1970 Rita Reif wrote: “Here and everywhere one goes in

the Biddle ancestral home one is confronted by the consistency of Mrs. Nicholas Biddle’s delight in maple furniture.”1 However no documentation exists that suggests Mrs. Biddle had any role in the decoration of the family homes. In the case of Andalusia, the choice

of a light wood appears to reflect the masculine taste of Nicholas Biddle as much as the stereotypical dark woods. Prescriptive publications such asAckermann ’s Repository recommended that the majority of their designs for ‘Tashionable Furniture” be executed in mahogany, rosewood, or other dark woods.2 Extant labeled pieces made by the best cabinetmakers Charles Lannuier, Anthony Quervelle, and Michel Bouvier suggest that generally that advice was followed by the maker or his patron.3 Within the traditional use of dark

lRita Reif, Treasure Rooms o f America’s Mansions, Manors and Houses (Waukesha, WI: Country Beautiful, 1970) 198.

2Based on a survey of editions from 1809 to 1829. Rudolph Ackermann,The Repository o f Arts, Literature, Fashions, etc. (London: Rudolph Ackermann, 1809-1829).

3Decorative Arts Photographic Collection (DAPC), Winterthur Library. Files for Lannuier, Quervelle, Bouvier.

33

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. woods, these cabinetmakers and others used light woods as additional decoration, typically as inlay on surfaces, or as “interior” materials. According to Peter M. Kenny

the use of light-colored woods, “including burl elm, maple, and sycamore, were utilized

increasingly by the top Parisianebenistes during the Late Empire and Early Restoration periods.”4 A group of three Philadelphia work tables, two attributed to Bouvier and one to Charles West, with lyre-shape bases, exhibit a combination of mahogany and bird’s

eye maple drawer fronts and inlay on the top and sides, and may date as early as 1815.5 The Secretaire a Abatant probably made by Bouvier for Joseph Bonaparte displays

bird’s-eye maple drawers on the interior.6 Extant labeled or attributed pieces by

Philadelphia makers including Joseph Barry, Joseph Beale, John Davey and Anthony Quervelle, document the use of satinwood, typically in combination with mahogany.7 A few examples attributed to the shop of Anthony Quervelle also feature burled ash as another type of light wood.8 In only a few exceptions do these well-known makers use light woods to cover the entire surface of various forms; they feature them instead as

decorative parts of the whole, usually in combination with a dark wood. A relatively large number of labeled light wood pieces, particularly in maple, from craftsmen outside

Philadelphia, reveal the transmission of the design option and preference beyond

4Peter M. Kenny, “Lannuier’s Life and Work in New York, 1803-19.” Honorein Lannuier Cabinetmaker from Paris: The Life and Work o f a French Ebeniste in Federal New York (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998) 56.

5DAPC files 92.217, 88.325, 92.9.

6DAPC file 65.4263.

TDAPC files 64.1512, 86.1303, 73.115, John Davey file.

8DAPC files 74.507, 65.1507, 74.5862, 74.497.

34

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. cosmopolitan makers and owners.9 Although “country” makers adopted lighter decorative woods for some forms such as the desk-and-bookcase and work table, in

general their products were not sophisticated renderings. Therefore the presence of so many high-style examples made entirely of maple at Andalusia suggests that Nicholas Biddle adopted a distinctive approach to make his home fashionable. At one level, the employment of native craftsmen and use of native woods

represented a type of patriotism. This held true not only in the United States but in Europe as well. After 1806 in France the continental blockade anddictat a by Napoleon forcedebenistes to choose native woods, one source of the popularity of burl elm.10 In

England Rudolph Ackermann published the design for a “Drawing-Room Window- Curtain & Cabinet.” Ackermann endorsed the design with the statement, “The cabinet is

designed for execution in our native woods, relieved by inlaid metal ornaments; a style happily introduced, both in respect to taste and true patriotism. There are no woods more beautiful, or better suited to the purposes of cabinet embellishment, than those indigenous

in our own country.”11 Although Jefferson’s embargo encouraged interest in native craftsmen and materials in America, the use of maple as a primary wood, particularly in Philadelphia,

extended back to the colonial era. As the furniture in the Maple Bedroom at Winterthur Museum clearly demonstrates, maple, especially figured maple, provided early

9 DAPC files for A. Conrad, Morgantown, PA; Christian Navy, Lancaster, PA; Caleb Seal, New Garden, PA; Kirk & Nice, Germantown, PA; George Spangler, Carlisle, PA, Trego Smith, Pineville, PA; Ziba Moore, London Grove Township, PA.

10Kenny, 56.

"Rudolph Ackermann,A Series o f Fourty-four Engravings in Colours o f Fashionable Furniture o f Beds, Sofas, Ottomans, Window-Curtains, Chairs, Tables, Book-cases, &c. &c (London: R. Ackermann, 1823) 2.

35

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Philadelphia cabinetmakers an alternative to imported mahogany. In 1748 Peter Kalm, a Swedish naturalist wrote that in Philadelphia there was, “a variety of this tree which they call curled Maple, the wood being as it were marbled within; it is much used in all kinds

of joiner’s work, and the utensils made of this wood are preferable to those made of any

other sort of wood in this country, and are much dearer than those made of the wood of

the wild cherry trees or of the black walnut trees.”12 This evidence tends to question Charles Venable’s assertion that the popularity of light wood “suddenly” occurred around 1830 in Philadelphia.13 Patriotism could certainly explain Biddle’s choice of maple furniture. As an

extremely public figure with an extremely political job any choice that reinforced his appearance as a nationalist probably appealed to Biddle. The combination of a native wood with a style of furniture interpreted by many as a symbol of the strength and stability of the new nation appears only logical. An advertisement by J. and A. Crout which emphasized the use of “American wood”, which “for beauty and design, cannot be

surpassed by any cabinet ware manufactured from Imported Wood,” demonstrates the importance placed on native materials.14

Beyond national pride, the use of American maple by European craftsmen suggests that the wood possessed certain qualities all craftsmen respected and desired. Charles Venable documented the sale of American maple by Frankfurt lumber merchant

Carl Kuchler as well as its use by a Viennese pianomaker named Schneider to veneer a

12Peter Kalm, Travels into North America, 1770 (Reprint: New York: Wilson-Erickson Inc., 1937) 88-89.

13As quoted by Charles Venable, “Philadelphia Beidermeier: Germanic Craftsmen and Design in Philadelphia, 1820-1850” (Master’s thesis: University of Delaware, 1986) 74.

,4Ibid.

36

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. piano exhibited at the 1851 Crystal Palace.IS In 1823 Rudolph Ackermann published a

“Design for a Commode, Pier Glass, and Tabourets.” Ackerman, proposed that the commode ‘Tie formed of the American maple-wood, with a statuary-marble top, and the ornaments in gold: the panels are of verd antique, to give effect to the basso-relievo of ivory; a style of embellishment superseding the bronze, and in high estimation if well executed.”16 The tabourets, also made with maple and gold ornament, Ackermann

“intended for a saloon of an octagonal form, four sides of which were occupied by entrances to several apartments, and the four remaining sides by glasses and commodes: as each reflected as opposite pier, they produced effects called the endless perspective.”17

The architecture in this case reinforces maple as a stylish material, suitable for display in one of the irregular shaped rooms popular in elegant neo-classical homes. Clearly

cabinetmakers in America and overseas did not consider maple a second-class material, reserved only for painted or country furniture.

Nicholas Biddle was in good company, when he chose maple for his furniture. A receipt between J. B. Jardin and John Hare Powel of Philadelphia on April 20, 1836 lists three maple bedsteads, three maple tables, a set of fifteen maple chairs and another dozen maple chairs. For the dozen maple chairs and another dozen mahogany chairs Jardin paid three dollars per dozen, which suggests the comparable value placed on each material.18

It is interesting to note that on this receipt “Maple” appears four times compared to only one mention of mahogany, and no other references to specific materials. The popularity

15Ibid„ 75.

16Ackermann, A Series, 37.

I7Ibid.

l8Powel Collection 1582, Box 20, Folder 24, Historical Society o f Pennsylvania.

37

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of maple was not limited to the upper-class families of Philadelphia. In Savannah Alexander Telfair purchased from Philadelphia a center table, a pair of mirror-image

recamier sofas, and a set of eighteen side chairs, all in figured maple.19 Page Talbott has related the sofas to a seventeen-piece set of curly-maple furniture owned by Thomas Bennett, the governor of South Carolina between 1820 and 1822.20 A detailed inventory of Wickham House, now part of the Valentine Museum in Richmond, Virginia, lists a set

of curly-maple furniture in the oval salon, two side chairs of which are still displayed in

that room. As suggested in the Ackermann plate discussed above, the Wickham family placed their maple furniture in their very fashionable oval room. Maple furniture also

found popularity north of Philadelphia. For the cabin of hisCleopatra’s yacht Barge, Captain George Crowninshield commissioned a maple and bird’s-eye maple veneer settee from a Salem or Boston cabinetmaker.21

Although maple was a native wood it was no less expensive than imported mahogany. In the 1828Philadelphia Cabinet and Chair Makers ’ Union Book o f Prices

fo r Manufacturing Cabinet Ware, craftsmen established that “all work that is made of maple, except bedsteads and cribs, to be extra 15 per cent.” They also stated that

“Veneering with curl to be extra, according to table, on all jobs.”22 Obviously Nicholas Biddle did not choose his furniture with economy in mind. To the contrary, the expense

of maple would surely have been in the minds of most people who saw the Biddle furniture.

19Page Talbott,Classical Savannah (Savannah: Telfair Museum o f Art, 1995) 147.

20Ibid., 168, endnote 77.

2IPhilip D. Zimmerman, “The American Sofa Table,”Antiques 155 (May 1999) 750.

22Book o f Prices, 2A, 7.

38

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Having placed the maple furniture in its social context, it is appropriate to

consider its use by form. The extant pieces at Andalusia can be divided into four groups: tables, seating furniture, beds, and cabinet furniture. The first group, tables, includes the marble-top center table and the sofa table labeled by Anthony G. Quervelle. So few Philadelphia sofa tables exist that any example stands out; the Andalusia piece does so especially because of the use of maple (See Catalog 11). The lack of extending flaps

enhances its distinctiveness. The table does not stand alone, however. It resembles

another labeled Quervelle sofa or “occasional” (without flaps) table at the St. Louis Art

Museum.23 The design of the St. Louis piece, including the use of rosewood veneer and gilt decoration, relates more closely to French design, but essentially in form and construction the two pieces are very similar. A stretcher connects the two rectangular

base supports that are tenoned into the end rails of the table top frame. While the Andalusia example has a painted slate top, the St. Louis table supports a marble mosaic set within the framed top. The feet of the Andalusia table may have been inspired by the scroll supports of the rosewood example. The painted slate top is reminiscent of European examples, but the use of maple links the table to America, without losing any of the form’s sophistication in a wood acknowledged at home and abroad as a choice

equal to any other material. The Andalusia center table (See Catalog 1), a relatively new form of furniture when purchased, again gives a natavist statement with the use of King of Prussia marble for the top, rather than a mosaic or “specimen” top imported from Europe or brought back as a souvenir from the Grand Tour.24 The combination of marble with maple veneer

“For illustration see Robert C. Smith, “The Furniture of Anthony G. Quervelle, Part I: The Pier Table” The Magazine Antiques 103 (May 1973): 990, Fig. 9.

24An example of a specimen top center table, by another Philadelphia maker, Anthony Quervelle, is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The label on this piece indicates that it

39

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. certainly made this an expensive piece. Another Philadelphia maple veneered center

table was purchased by Alexander Telfair between 1825 and 1830 for his home in Savanah. Although different in design the pieces show their relationship in the shared use of poplar, oak and mahogany as materials.25 Evidently in Savanah Philadelphia’s figured maple center tables gained a certain amount of popularity among the upper classes, as the Telfairs’ friends, the Kollocks, also ordered “a small sized center table...of

the best bird’s eye maple, perfectly plain, without black moulding...Mr. Wm. W. Gordon of this City has one exactly of the description which I wish.”26 In addition to center tables, maple also completely decorated a card table by Michel Bouvier.27 A set of eight maple chairs of the same date (c.1830), are also attributed to Bouvier. These forms - chairs, card tables, and center tables - reveal the extensiveness of maple in the parlors of

Philadelphia homes. Extant inventories confirm the expectation that mahogany was still a much more prevalent material, among all classes, for tables, chairs, and other parlor furniture. When inventories do record maple seating furniture it sat alongside stylish forms of mahogany or rosewood. The estate inventory of Morris Smith for 1832 recorded “12 Maple Chairs”

was made at the same 126 S. Second Street address as the Andalusia sofa table. DAPC ACC No. 73.612.

“The Telfairs had a history of purchases from Thomas Cook, formerly of the partnership of Cook and Parkin. Biddle recorded the purchase of a “round table” from Thomas Cook for $90. The similarity in materials and size may be more than a coincidence in this case.

26P.M. Kollock, Savannah, to George J. Kollock, 297 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA., Sept. 18th, 1832. “Kollock Papers,”Georgia Historical Quarterly, 31 (June 1947): 128-129. Quoted by Page Talbott Classicalin Savanah, 146.

“Donald L. Fennimore. “A labeled card table by Michel Bouvier.”Antiques 103 (April 1973): 760-763.

40

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. followed by “1 Sopha and Pillow” and “1 Mahog Pier Table with. Marble Slab” in the front parlor.28 The rarity of this type of evidence for maple chairs makes the presence of three maple sofas and three sets of maple side chairs at Andalusia all the more unusual. The

most elaborate o f the side chairs have carved horizontal splats and upholstered slip seats

(See Catalog 2). Originally a set of twelve, the chairs feature a carved rounded crest rail with acanthus leaves at the ears, possibly inspired by Plate 21 Modemof Style of Cabinet Work Exemplified, on what King describes as a “Bed room Chair.”29 Although the downswept molded saber legs are found on New York and Boston chairs, the attachment

of the crest rail to the front of the stiles places the maker of these chairs in Philadelphia.30 This set probably began as “Plain Chairs, rounded with pannel in the top rail, plain stay

rail, with veneer or bead, per dozen, 33.00” The cost went up significantly with Biddle’s choice of several options, including “Piercing and shaping edes [sic] of stay rail, 1.50”, “Moulding front rails .75”, and “Scroll or kneed to front leg 1.50, Do. when moulded,

extra .75.”31 The other elaborate set of maple chairs is decidedly different in design, and may date to the late 1830s or early 1840s (See Catalog 16). A design with similar yoked

crest rail, the turned front legs, and over-the-rail upholstery is illustrated in Loudon’s

Encyclopaedia o f Cottage, Farmhouse and Villa Architecture and Furniture published in

28Morris Smith, Will and Inventory 1832. Department of Records, City of Philadelphia, PA. Microfilm.

29Thomas King,Modem Style o f Cabinet Work Exemplified, 1829 (Reprint: Introduction by Thomas Gordon Smith, New York: Dover Publications, 1995) Plate 21.

30Oscar Fitzgerald, Four Centuries o f American Furniture (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1995) Figure VI-7.

31 Book o f Prices, 40-41.

41

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1839.32 Also slightly later in date is a set of four cane seat side chairs with vase shaped splats, which represent the plainer Grecian style often associated with John Hall (See Catalog 15). Oscar Fitzgerald published a chair of similar design made of walnut that

possesses the same flat, arched stretcher between the front legs.33 A sampling of inventories from Philadelphia in the 1830s show that caned and rush seat chairs were much more prevalent in Philadelphia than upholstered side chairs. Although very

different in style, the three sets are linked in their use of maple, reinforcing the conclusion that maple was not limited to a specific interpretation of the late Neo-classical style. The other maple seating furniture at Andalusia includes a scroll-arm sofa and a pair of backless plain-style sofas. The former (See Catalog 3) relates to the description of

“A Plain Sofa” in the 1828 price book for a form “six feet on the seat, straight back, with inch mahogany glued to form the scroll” with the “four turned stump feet” replaced wdth

“scroll feet” at an extra charge of 22 cents each.34 The “stretched-out” scroll arms vary from the more vertical scrolls seen in most designs and extant pieces. The pair of backless sofas are probably one of Nicholas Biddle’s later purchases (See Catalog 6). The design of the Biddle sofas determined their placement within the

room. Maple veneer, a scrolled facing applied to the feet, the presence of an extra volute at the base of the arm scroll, and the beaded molding on the top and bottom of the side rails occur on only one side of the form, indicating a definite “front” and “back” to the

32J.C. Loudon,Furniture Designs from the Encyclopaedia o f Cottage, Farmhouse, and Villa Architecture and Furniture 1839 (Reprint: S.R. Publishers, Ltd, 1970) 93.

33Fitzgerald, 115, Fig. VI-8.

2*Book o f Prices, 36.

42

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. sofas. The Biddle examples are related to a design by George Smith on plate 67 of his Collection ofDesigns fo r Household Furniture and Interior Decoration. Smith called this form an “ottoman” and recommended they “be placed on the chimney side of the room...their projection from the wall preventing the pictures being fingered, which is too often practiced.”35 This is an English interpretation of a French design, made American by the use of maple veneers.

The bedroom furniture at Andalusia is predominately maple. These examples reinforce the conclusion of the inventory sample that maple was most common in the

bedroom, particularly for bedsteads and washstands, with bureaus following. In a printed receipt from the shop of James Kite, whom Biddle patronized, the material is listed almost as another design: “J.K. has on hand...French, Sofa, Maple, Mahogany, and other Bed Steads.”36 James Montgomery’s inventory for July 10, 1834 reveals ensuite use of

maple in the bedroom. It lists “2 Maple Bureaus bird eye...l Maple table... 1 Maple toilet table...1 large Maple bedstead bird eye” and a “Maple horse for towels.”37 The inventories also reveal some extent of the value placed on this maple furniture. Appraisers generally valued these bedsteads at around five dollars. Andalusia retains three maple bedsteads. A “double” size bedstead with turned spool posts has iron hardware cast with the date of 1854, evidence that it was not a

3SGeorge Smith, Collection o f Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808, eds. Charles F. Montgomery and Benno M. Forman (Reprint: New York: Praeger Pub fishers, 1970)12 and Plate 67.

36Receipt from James Kite to Robert Vaux, October 2, 1834. Robert & Richard Vaux, Bills & Receipts, Society’s Miscellaneous Collection, Box IB-2, Folder 32, 1833-1835, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

37James Montgomery, Will and Inventory 1834. Department of Records, City of Philadelphia, PA. Microfilm.

43

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Nicholas Biddle purchase. The two other bedsteads are a pair of maple “single”

bedsteads that could be the “maple bedsteads” purchased from Frederick Prack in 1834 (See Catalog 17).38 The slight scroll of the head and footboard posts suggests the shape of the popular French bedsteads, although they possess no design features which suggest placement against a wall. Biddle’s few records of specific furniture for Andalusia refer to bedroom furniture. In 1834 he purchased a “Bureau & Bedstead for Anda [$]38” from Thomas Cook and a “Bedstead for Anda [$]8” from L. Babe. Unfortunately Biddle’s failure to record the wood used for these bedsteads makes it impossible to conclude if

they fell into his pattern of maple purchases, or the popular trend for maple bedroom

furniture. The popularity of maple bedsteads, combined with the fashion for ensuite furniture resulted in a certain number of maple bureaus. The records of maple bureaus in

inventories suggest their value to their owners. In the 1833 estate of Hamilton Ayers of Chester County, the maple bureau was appraised at $5, the third most valuable thing in the house, after cash and a silver watch.39 William Giles, in the Northern Liberties, in 1830 after designating dispersal of bedding, made specific bequests of his two “curled maple bureau[s]” to his sister-in-law and niece. Like the Ayers bureau, the Giles bureaus are valued at $5 each.40 The three bureaus or chests of drawers at Andalusia are all faced with maple veneer. The simplest is an almost exact representation of the description of the “Plain

38Expense Book 1834.

39Hamilton Ayers, Will and Inventory 1833. Department of Records, City of Philadelphia, PA. Microfilm.

40 William Giles, Will and Inventory 1830. Department of Records, City of Philadelphia, PA. Microfilm.

44

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Bureau with Turned Feet” described in the 1828 price book, with “ends and back framed, with one pannel each, with four long drawers” and the extra “upright partition rail for dividing top drawers in two” and “Making top drawer project one inch.” (See Catalog

13).41 In 1830 Walter Pennery received an “honorary mention” at the Franklin Institute for a maple bureau, now in the collection of Winterthur Museum. Pennery worked as a

journeyman in the shop of John Jameson (or Jamison). The next year Nicholas Biddle purchased a trundle bed from John Jameson.42 Although this was Biddle’s only recorded purchase from Jameson, a trip to his shop probably provided Biddle the opportunity to

see maple used on different forms of furniture, including bureaus. Compared to the Pennery bureau, which displays ebonized, gilt, and carved decoration, the Biddle maple

bureaus (See Catalog 14) feature plainer surfaces associated with later design and/or less expensive prices.

Nicholas Biddle’s preference for maple as material influenced his choices for the majority of furniture he purchased. The preference cannot be categorized by form or level of “sophistication”. Light woods gained a particular popularity in Philadelphia in the 1830s, but the collection of light maple furniture owned by Biddle stands out for its

size and its representation of changing styles. The homes of Biddle must have been islands of maple in a sea of mahogany and rosewood. And although at this time no evidence exists that clearly states why Biddle chose maple so often, how the collection fits into the “furniture” context of the time may suggest a possibly answer. During the 1830s Nicholas Biddle, after Andrew Jackson, was perhaps the most famous man in the country. Upon Biddle’s death Sidney George Fisher wrote, “How he was followed,

*lBook o f Prices, 14-15.

42 Nicholas Biddle Expense Book 1831, The Andalusia Foundation.

45

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. praised, worshipped, can scarcely be conceived by those who did not witness the scenes in which he was an actor.”43 No doubt Biddle was very conscious of his “role” in Philadelphia society, and he used maple objects to furnish two of his “stages.” The contrast of maple furniture to the predominate mahogany, or of Philadelphia makers to imported French suites, in addition to the expense of maple only reinforced Biddle’s public appearance as a distinct entity within the already separated upper class. As his political role set him apart, so did his material surroundings.

43Fisher, 154.

46

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 1. Jane Biddle's Music Stand. Photograph by Author. Courtesy o f The Andalusia Foundation.

47

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 2. Andalusia, circa 1840. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

48

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 3. Andalusia, West Entrance. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

49

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 4. Gothic Cottage at Andalusia. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

50

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 5. Craig Family Sofa, circa 1800-1815. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

51

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 6. Craig Family Dining Table, circa 1800-1815. Photograph by Author. Courtesy o f The Andalusia Foundation.

52

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 7. Chinese Table, circa 1800-1820. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

53

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 8. Candelabra, 1830-1840. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

54

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources

Ackermaim, Rudolph.The Repository o f Arts, Literature, Fashions, London:etc. Rudolph Ackermann, 1809-1829.

. A Series o f Fourty-Four Engravings in Colours o f Fashionable Furniture o f Beds, Sofas, Ottomans, Window-Curtains, Chairs, Tables, Book­ cases, &c. &c. London: Rudolph Ackermann, 1823.

Ashurst Family Papers, Collection 1972a, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Biddle Family Papers, The Andalusia Foundation.

Biddle, Charles. Autobiography o f Charles Biddle, Vice President o f the Supreme Executive Council o f Pennsylvania 1745-1821. Philadelphia: privately printed, 1883.

Nicholas Biddle Expense Books, 1828, 1831, 1833-1838. The Andalusia Foundation.

Bills & Receipts, Society’s Miscellaneous Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Coxe, Daniel. Receipt Book, Collection Am91233, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Department of Records, Wills and Inventories, City of Philadelphia, PA. Microfilm.

Desilver’s Philadelphia Directory and Strangers Guide fo r 1831. Philadelphia: Robert Desilver, May 1831.

Desilver’s Philadelphia Directory and Strangers Guide fo r 1837. Philadelphia: Robert Desilver, March 1837.

Fisher, Sidney George.A Philadelphia Perspective: The Diary of Sidney George Fisher Covering the Years 1834-1871. Edited by Nicholas B. Wainwright. Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1967.

55

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Hone, Philip. The Diary o f Philip Hone 1821-1851. Edited by Allan Nevins. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1936.

Kalm, Peter. Travels into North America, 1770. Reprint. New York: Wilson-Erickson Inc., 1937.

King, Thomas.Modem Style o f Cabinet Work Exemplified, 1829. Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, 1995.

Loudon, J.C.Furniture Designs from the Encyclopaedia o f Cottage, Farmhouse and Villa Architecture and Furniture, 1839. Reprint. East Ardsely, England: S.R. Pub Ushers Ltd, 1970.

Loudoun Papers, Collection 1971, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Manigault, Harriet. The Diary o f Harriet Manigault 1813-1816. Edited by James S. Armentrout, Jr. and Virginia Armentrout. Rockland, ME: The Colonial Dames of America, Chapter n, 1976.

M ‘Elroy’s Philadelphia Directory, 1839. Philadelphia: A. M ’Elroy, 1839.

Milbert, Jacques Gerard. Picturesque Itinerary o f the Hudson River and the Peripheral Parts o f North America. 1829-1830. Reprint, translated by Constance D. Sherman. Ridgewood, NJ: The Gregg Press, 1968.

The Philadelphia Cabinet and Chair Makers ’ Union Book ofPrices for Manufacturing Cabinet Ware. Philadelphia: WilUam Stavely, 1828.

Philadelphia Circulating Business Directory. Arranged by J.B. Savage. Philadelphia: Morris’s Xylographic Press, 1838.

Powel Collection 1582, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Smith, George. Collection o f Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration. 1808. Reprint, edited by Charles F. Montgomery and Benno M. Forman, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970.

Smith, John Jay.Recollections o f John Jay Smith Written by Himself. Philadelphia: privately printed, 1892.

56

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Secondary Sources

Baltzell, E. Digby. Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making o f a National Upper Class. Glenco, IL: The Free Press, 1958.

Biddle, Edward, editor. “Joseph Bonaparte as recorded in the Private Journal of Nicholas Biddle.” The Pennsylvania Magazine o f History and Biography 55 (July 1931): 208-224.

Biddle, Henry D.Notes on the Genealogy o f the Biddle Family. Philadelphia: W.S. Fortescue & Co., 1895.

Biddle, James. “Nicholas Biddle’s Andalusia, a nineteenth-century country seat today.” Antiques 86 (September 1964): 286-290.

______. “Andalusia.” The Magazine Antiques 130 (December 1986): 1220-1227.

Biddle, Nicholas.Biddle Anniversary: Celebrating the 250th Anniversary o f the arrival in American o f William & Sarah Kempe Biddle. Philadelphia: The Eagle Press, 1931.

The Bucks County Intelligencer and General Advertiser, Marriage Notices Vol. 1 1804- 1834. Edited by Frances Wise Waite. Doylestown, PA: Bucks County Genealogical Society, 1986.

Catalano, Kathleen M. “Cabinetmaking in Philadelphia, 1820-1840.” Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1972.

Conradsen, David H. “The Stock-in-Trade of John Hancock and Company.”American Furniture 1993. Edited by Luke Beckerdite. Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation, 1993.

Cooper, Wendy.Classical Taste in America 1800-1840. New York: Abbeville Press for the Baltimore Museum of Art, 1993.

______. In Praise o f America: American Decoratie Arts, 1650-1830. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.

Cornu, Paul, editor.Muebles et Objects de Gout 1796-1830. Reprint. Paris: Librairie des arts decoratifs, A. Calavas, 1914.

Death Notices Copied from the Bucks County Intelligencer, Doylestown, Pennsylvania 1835-1860, Vol. IV. Doylestown, PA: Bucks County Historical Society, 1939.

57

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ducoff-Barone, Deborah. “Philadelphia Furniture Makers 1816-1830.”Antiques 145 (May 1994): 742-755 .

Feld, Stuart P. Boston in the Age o f Neo-Classicism 1810-1840. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1999.

______, et al. Neo-Classicism in American: Inspiration and Innovation 1810- 1840. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1991.

Fennimore, Donald L. “A Labeled Card Table by Michel Bouvier.”Antiques 103 (April 1973): 760-763.

______and Robert T. Trump. “Joseph B. Barry, Philadelphia Cabinetmaker.” Antiques 135 (May 1989): 1213-1218.

Fitzgerald, Oscar. Four Centuries o f American Furniture. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1995.

Garrett, Elizabeth Donaghy.At Home: The American Family 1750-1870. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990.

Garrett, Wendell. Classical America: The Federal Style and Beyond. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1992.

Garvan, Beatrice B. Federal Philadelphia: The Athens o f the Western World 1725-1825. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum o f Art, 1987.

Gere, Charlotte. Nineteenth Century Interiors: An Album o f Watercolours. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.

Gerts, William H. and Berry B. Tracy. Classical America 1815-1845. Newark: Newark Museum Association, 1963.

Go van, Thomas Payne.Nicholas Biddle: nationalist and public banker, 1786-1844. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959.

The Greek Revival in the United States: A Special Loan Exhibition. Metropolitan Museum o f Art, 1943.

Hamlin, Talbot. Greek Revival Architecture in America. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1944.

58

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Hammond, Bray. “The Second Bank of the United States.”Historic in Philadelphia: From the Founding Until the Early Nineteenth Century. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1953.

Kennedy, Roger G..Greek Revival America. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1989.

Kenny, Peter M. and Frances F. Bretter and Ulrich Leben. Honore Lannuier Cabinetmaker from Paris: The Life and Work o f a French Ebeniste in Federal New York. New York: Metropolitan Museum o f Art, 1998.

Leech, Frank Willing. Biddle Family. Philadelphia: Historical Publication Society, 1932.

McGrane, Reginald C., editor. The Correspondence o f Nicholas Biddle Dealing with National Affairs, 1807-1844. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1919.

Moss, Roger.The American Country House. New York: H. Holt, 1990.

______. Historic Houses o f Philadelphia: A tour o f the region’s museum homes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.

“Mr. Nicholas Biddle and the Architecture of Girard College.”Pennsylvania Magazine o f History and Biography. 18 (1894) 354-360.

Philadelphia: Three Centuries o f American Art. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976.

Pratt, Richard. A Treasury o f Early American Homes. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1949.

Reif, Rita. Treasure Rooms o f America's Mansions, Manors and Houses. Waukesha, WI: Country Beautiful, 1970.

Smith, Robert C. “Late Classical Furniture in the United States, 1820-1850.”Antiques 74 (December 1958): 519-523.

______. “Philadelphia Empire Furniture by Antoine Gabriel Quervelle.” Antiques 86 (September 1964): 304-309.

______. “The Furniture of Anthony G. Quervelle, Part I: The Pier Table.”The Magazine Antiques 103 (May 1973): 984-994.

______. “The Furniture of Anthony G. Quervelle, Part II: The Pedestal Tables.” The Magazine Antiques 104 (July 1973): 90-99.

59

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ______. “The Furniture o f Anthony G. Quervelle, Part EH: The Worktables.”The Magazine Antiques 104 (August 1973): 260-268.

______. “The Furniture of Anthony G. Quervelle, Part IV: Some Case Pieces.”The Magazine Antiques 105 (January 1974): 180-193.

______. “The Furniture of Anthony G. Quervelle, Part V: Sofas, Chairs, and Beds.” The Magazine Antiques 105 (March 1974): 512-521.

Smith, Thomas Gordon.John Hall and the Grecian Style in America. New York: Acanthus Press, 1996.

Strickland, Peter L.L.. “Andalusia: A Study of the Furnishings.” unpublished manuscript, 1985.

______. “Furniture by the Lejambre Family of Philadelphia.”Antiques 113 (March 1978): 600-613.

Talbott, Page. Classical Savannah. Savannah: Telfair Museum of Art, 1995.

Taylor, Michele Taillon.Building for Democracy: Girard College, political, educational, and architectural ideology. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1997.

Turner, Douglas Kellogg.Nicholas Biddle. Doyleston, Pa.: Doyleston Democrat, 1888.

Venable, Charles. “Philadelphia Beidermeier: Germanic Craftsmen and Design in Philadelphia, 1820-1850.” Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1986.

Wainwright, Nicholas Biddle. Andalusia: Countryseat o f the Craig Family and o f Nicholas Biddle and His Descendents. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1976.

______. Colonial Grandeur in Philadelphia: The House and Furniture o f John Cadwalader. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1964.

______. “Nicholas Biddle in portraiture.”The Magazine Antiques 108 (November 1975): 956-964.

______., Russell Frank Weigley, and Edwin Wolf, editors.Philadelphia: a 300 Year History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.

Whalen, Catherine L. “‘The Consumption of Empire’: The Vansyckel Family Bedchamber Suite.” Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1998.

60

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Wick, Wendy. “Stephen Girard A Patron of the Philadelphia Furniture Trade.” Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1977.

Wilburn, Jean A. Biddle’s Bank: The Crucial Years. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.

Wildman, Edwin. The Builders o f America: Lives o f Great Americans from the Monroe Doctrine to the Civil War. Boston: L.C. Page & Company, 1925.

Woodhouse, Anne Felicity. “Nicholas Biddle in Europe, 1804-1807.”Pennsylvania Magazine o f History and Biography. 103 (January1979): 3-33.

Zimmerman, Philip D. “The American Sofa Table.”Antiques 155 (May 1999): 744-753.

61

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Appendix

FURNITURE CATALOGUE OF SELECT BIDDLE FURNITURE

62

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 1

Center Table American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Maker unknown 1825-1835 27 5/8” high 43 3/4” diameter

Description: The center table consists of a surface of Prussian marble surrounded by a 4 5/8” radial border in veneered maple supported on a central column set on a square base with four carved feet. The base of the column is also carved. The apron of the skirt and the square base are decorated with figured maple veneers.

Materials: Mahogany skirt with maple veneered surface. 8 3/4” oak medial brace and two 5 1/4” tulip poplar radial braces. Solid maple pedestal and legs. Pedestal base is oak with maple veneered surface. Chesnut comer blocks. King of Prussia marble. Brass castors.

Construction: The four legs were carved from the solid then dovetailed into the square oak base. These tenoned joints are supported underneath with iron braces that are screwed at three places on each leg and three times each into the base. The pedestal is made of three separate pieces of maple and the whole is joined to the square base with two square tenons. The top of the pedestal is turned and carved and tenoned into the 8 3/4” wide oak medial brace that supports the marble top. The oak medial brace has a chamfered edge and has two tulip poplar side braces, each 5 1/4” wide, tenoned into it. Shaped chestnut comer blocks are screwed into each of the braces at the center. The apron of the top is made of three-layer mahogany laminate, with the center layer of smaller dimensions. The border of the top is made of four mahogany pieces 4 5/8” wide. Maple veneer covers the whole top. The 34 1/4” diameter marble top rests on the braces.

Condition: Some mold is growing on the oak. Some of the veneers are split and there is a large crack down the pedestal.

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), by descent to present owner.

Location: Andalusia, Red Parlor

The center table was a relatively new form when purchased by Nicholas Biddle. Referred to as a “Loo” table, this form is described in the 1828 PhiladelphiaBook o f

63

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Prices and publications such as J.C. Loudon’sEncyclopaedia o f Cottage, Farm and Villa

Architecture (1839). Loudon recommends that such tables be executed in “rosewood, or any other rare and handsome foreign wood.” For Loudon the American burled maple of

this example would certainly have qualified as “handsome foreign wood.” The examples illustrated in Loudon’s book exhibit the most common bases found

on extant center tables. Either square or triangular, these bases typically displayed shaped concave sides, supported by heavily carved claw feet. The Andalusia table is unusual in its deviation from this popular design. The square base with canted comers is supported by a combination cabriole/saber leg with brass paw castor feet. Similar bases and legs are seen on tables attributed to the shop of Henry Connelly.1 Although the

Connelly legs have less pronounced knees and are “paneled” on the sides, they also have the same molding down the front and carved acanthus leaves on the knees that are found on the Andalusia table. Connelly also dovetailed these legs into the canted comers of

square bases, as seen on the Andalusia table. No documentation exists to show that Nicholas Biddle ever patronized the shop of

Henry Connelly, who worked until 1824. Biddle may have seen the card table made by Connelly for Stephen Girard in 1817, which has a similar base, although the legs are so long and attenuated as to be almost straight. In any case Biddle’s choice of this design demonstrates his preference for a distinctive pattern that varied from that of his social

peers.

lDAPC files 87.134, 66.1077.

64

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Philadelphia C enter Fable, circa IS25-IN35. View o f base, ['holograph hv Author. ( ourtcsv of I he Andalusia Foundation.

Center Fable View o f marble top. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

<)5

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Center Table. Detail o f construction. Photograph by Author. Courtesy o f the Andalusia Foundation.

06

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 2

Side chair (one o f six) American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1825-1835 33” high 19 3/4” wide at crest rail 21 5/8” deep at feet seat height: 16 1/4”

Description: Neo-classical “klismos”-style side chair with slip seat and a crest rail with rounded ends. Reeding decorates the front of the stiles and front legs. The horizontal splat is heavily carved. The slip seat is not original and is covered with an embossed velvet textile.

Material: Solid maple construction with an applied veneer panel on the crest rail.

Construction: Side rails (2 1/2” wide by 1 1/4” deep) are tenoned into the front legs and rear stiles (1 1/4” wide). The front and rear rails are tenoned into the front legs and rear stiles, respectively. The horizontal splat is tenoned into the continuous rear stiles. The front seat rail and the front of the back stiles, side rails, and front of the front legs are molded with a bead on either side of a raised area. There are handscrewed holes which run vertically through the centers of the front and rear stiles. The crest rail is lapped and pinned into the rear stiles which have a lambrequin at top.

Condition: The chairs are refinished, with replaced slip seats. The comers of two of the applied crest rail panels are missing, revealing the toothed surface which helped to adhere the veneer.

Location: Andalusia, Red and Yellow Parlors

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), by descent to present owner.

Markings: Originally marked with roman numerals cut into the rear seat rail. A second set of numbers have been inscribed in pencil on the same location. The six original numbers are between one and twelve, indicating the original set included twelve chairs.

As discussed in Chapter 4, the crest rail shape and carving of these chairs is derived from a design by Thomas King (see page 41). In the chapter entitled “Grecian and Modem Villa Furniture” J.C. Loudon illustrates a similar, though less elaborate form. He calls the form “fancy chairs for drawing rooms,” and recommends that they be made

67

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of “rosewood, maple, satin or any other kind of fancy wood” and that “they may have hair cushions covered with same furniture as the curtains and sofas, or they may have stuffed seats covered with damask.”1 The Andalusia chairs fit this description, and probably this intended use. The presence of only six chairs from an original set of twelve is evidence of some division of Nicholas Biddle’s property after the death of his wife Jane. O f the six

children who inherited, only one, Edward Craig Biddle, wished to have his share of the bequest, rather than hold the estate jointly. Part of his share no doubt included some

portion of the furnishings, possibly including the matching six chairs of this set.

'Loudon, 91.

68

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Side Chair, circa 1825-1835. Front and side views. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 3

Sofa American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1815-1830 28” high 82” wide 22 1/2” deep

Description: Scroll-armed sofa with rolled crest rail. The frame sits on curved legs supported on wooden castors. The legs and arms are decorated with carved applied facing.

Materials: Maple facing on tulip poplar frame, with solid maple legs and crest rail. Wood castors. Modem upholstery.

Construction: The sofa is made up of the feet, back frame, seat and arms. The seat frame with medial braces running front to back is tenoned into the back frame. The roll of the crest rail is created with an applied half-round molding. The front rail has a plain applied maple facing. The carving on the arms is done on a 1/2” maple facing. There is also applied carved facing at the top of feet. The four-toe lion-paw feet are carved from pieces of solid maple. The back rails display a maple veneer.

Condition: Refinished surfaces with some loose veneer.

Marking: Roman numerals on feet correspond with castors.

Location: Andalusia, Red Parlor

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), descent to present owner.

70

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Sofa, circa 1815-1830. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

71

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Sofa. Detail of carving on arm and leg facings. Photography by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

72

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 4

Window Cupboard American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1820-1835 33” high 52 3/4” wide at front 45” wide at back 10 1/2” deep at center

Description: Maple double-door cabinet with frame-and-panel doors. The form narrows toward the back and contains a single shelf.

Materials: Solid maple top, legs, and case sides. The back panel is white pine as is the bottom with maple facing. The partitions and blocks are also white pine.

Construction: The two side panels are mortise-and-tenoned to the top and bottom. The back is frame-and-spanel construction with a chamfered edges, and the top panel is nailed to the cabinet top. The top and bottom rear rails and side rails are dovetailed and pinned into the rear comer posts. The top front rail is dovetailed into front comer posts. The top is screwed into front and rear top rails. There are comer blocks with chamfered edges at the top and bottom of the side panels. A shaped shelf is dropped onto small supports which are nailed to comer posts. The legs are let into the comer posts. There are turned bulbous feet in two pieces, at front and back. The two doors are hung from two hinges. The through-tenoned door frames are double white pine with maple panels.

Condition: The top has been bleached by the sun. The surface has been refinished and the hardware replaced. Several areas have been patched.

Location: Andalusia, Red Parlor.

Provenance: Unknown.

This dimensions of this cupboard indicate that it was custom made for the bay window where it sits. The extremely bleached top is evidence of a lengthy exposure to direct sunlight. A very simple piece of furniture, its function can only be guessed. The presence of a lock suggests the storage of valuables. The choice of maple in this case may have been to “match” the piece with other furniture in the room.

73

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Window Cupboard, circa 1820-1835. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

74

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Window Cupboard, interior. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

75

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 5

Foot stool American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1810-1840 4” high without upholstery 14” wide 13” deep

Description: Low rectangular wooden foot stool, cast brass Iion-paw feet and modem velvet upholstery.

Materials: White pine frame faced with 1/8” maple veneer.

Construction: The frame is a white pine dovetailed box, covered by maple veneer. Two screws originally secured the cushion to the top of the frame. The feet are not original, with holes indicating a 1 1/4” span for the original feet.

Condition: Fair condition, showing much wear. Replaced feet.

Location: Andalusia, Red Parlor

Provenance: Unknown.

76

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Footstool, circa 1810-1840. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

77

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 6

Sofa (one of pair) American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1830-1840 23” high 84 1/2” wide 23 3/4” deep

Description: Backless, scroll-armed sofa. Surface decorated with maple veneer and applied facings.

Materials: Stained tulip poplar frame. White pine ledge for seat. Maple veneers. Modem upholstery.

Construction: Dovetailed frame with two medial braces dovetailed front to back. Two legs are nailed to the end rails which support the seat frame. Rectangular blocks on top of each medial brace concentrate the weight. The seat frame is made up of two long and five short rails. The turned bun feet are tenoned into the solid maple legs that are tenoned into the frame. The arm scrolls are tenoned into the top of the rails and are connected with round braces. Extra volutes are added under the arms on front. The use of veneer indicates the “front” side o f the piece, as well as facing applied in three parts to form a scroll on the leg.

Condition: Old upholstery (not original) still covers the rear seat rail. There is some cracking of the veneer.

Location: Andalusia, Ottoman Parlor and Attic (pair)

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), by descent to present owner.

78

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Sofa or Ottoman, circa 1830-1S40. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

Sofa or Ottoman. Detail of arm and foot. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

79

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 7

Child’s chairs A & B American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Circa 1834 21 1/2” high seat height 10”13 7/8” wide 14” deep

Description: A: Child-scale gondola-style side chair with embossed leather slip seat. B: Same with horsehair seat.

Materials: Mahogany and walnut frame. Leather covered slip seat.

Construction: On both chairs the front, rear and side rails are tenoned into the legs. The rear stiles are tenoned into the crest rail, as is the vase-shaped splat. An added volute forms the roll of the crest rail. The front rail is walnut with a mahogany veneer. The seat is supported by rear comer braces, one of which is missing on chair B. Chair B also displays a replaced splat and repaired crest rail. Chair A is decorated with a lip on the top edge o f the front rail, which is missing on Chair B. Screws have been added to reinforce the rear legs of Chair A.

Condition: Some cracking and loss of veneer. Also see construction.

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle, 1834.

Location: Andalusia, Library These chairs may be the “two table chairs for children” Nicholas Biddle paid

Joseph Snyder $5 for in March, 1834. The gondola-style chair came into fashion during the 1830s, and Joseph Meeks advertised an example in his broadside of 1833. Children’s chairs were made as miniatures of adult styles throughout the nineteenth century.1 Use of the most fashionable designs was not uncommon, and the tradition may have come from England. There are examples of English children’s chairs inspired by both Hepplewhite

'Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museums.Children’s Furniture 1600-1900 (Burnley, England: The Galleries, 1977) 11.

80

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and Grecian designs.2

2Ibid., 32.

81

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Child's Chair, circa 1830-1840. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

S2

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 8

Campeche or “Spanish” chair American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania attrib. John Hancock & Co Circa 1836 41 3/4” high 22 1/2” wide 29” deep

Description: Mahogany chair on a curule base with turned stretchers. Arms extend from the reclined back to the front of the seat. The arms and the back are upholstered in a red textile.

Materials: Mahogany frame. Secondary wood covered by modem upholstery.

Construction: The stiles are one continuous piece from the crest rail to the front legs. The side seat rails and rear legs are tenoned into the stiles. Turned stretchers connect the right and left legs. The arm supports are tenoned into the arm and side seat rails. A round brace 5” in diameter forms the crest rail. The feet were sawn then carved. An applied rosette decorates the intersection of stiles and rear legs. Horizontal medial braces connect the sides at the front of the seat, the base of the seat, and where the arms meet the stiles. The tufted upholstery is modem but correct for the 1830s.

Condition: Good.

Location: Andalusia, Library.

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle, 1836

This chair represents one half of the original pair purchased from John Hancock & Co. in 1836 for $44. A c. 1919 photograph of the library at Andalusia shows that the pair was intact at that time. According to David Conradsen, “Hancocks’ Spanish chair was based on the ‘campeche’ chair, a form probably of Spanish origin.”1 J.C. Loudon published a design for the same form which he described as a “easy reclining chair[s] for a library, parlor, or other sitting-room. They are covered with morocco leather, with

‘David Conradsen, “Ease and Economy: The Hancocks and the Development of Spring- seat Upholstery in America” (Master’s thesis: University of Delaware, 1998) 58.

83

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. button tufts; and they are very easy to sit upon.”2 Although re-upholstered, the tufting on the Andalusia example adheres to period practice.

The popularity of this form for libraries is suggested by Loudon, as well as illustrated in a painting by George Bacon Wood, Jr of the home o f Henry C. Carey. The painting records a Spanish chair and Spanish rocking chair in the library o f Carey’s Philadelphia house.3

2Loudon, 87.

3Conradsen, Figures 4, 5, 6.

84

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Campeche or "Spanish” Chair, attributed to John Hancock Co .. 1836. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of the Andalusia Foundation.

85

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Campeche or "Spanish” Chair. Side view. Photography by Author. Courtesy of Th Andalusia Foundation.

86

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 9

Easy chair American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1830-1840 33 1/2” high seat height 16”arm height 22 1/2” 22 1/2” wide 21 3/4” deep

Description: Upholstered barrel-back chair with rounded arm supports. Maple base with turned and saber legs on brass castors.

Materials: Walnut frame with maple veneer. Maple legs.

Construction: Framed back, seat, and arms. The turned front legs are tenoned into the front comer blocks. The rear squat raked-back saber legs are let into the seat rail. The frame has been reupholstered with modem silk damask and tacked with brass nails at the base. The original socket castors fit over the ends of the legs.

Condition: Modem upholstery, the original seat may have been sprung. There is a severe loss of veneer.

Location: Andalusia, Yellow Parlor

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), by descent to present owner.

87

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Armchair, circa IS30-1840. Photograph by Author. Courtesy o f The Andalusia Foundation.

Armchair. Side view. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 10

Armchair (one of pair) American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1810-1820 31 1/4” high seat height 15 3/4” arm height 26 3/4” 22” wide 20 1/2” deep

Description: Black painted armchair with caned seat. A horizontal hour-glass shaped pierced splat sits between two square braces and spherical balls.

Materials: Maple frame. Cane seat.

Construction: The side and front seat rails are tenoned into the turned front legs. The front legs are tenoned into the C-scroll arm supports. The arm supports are lapped onto the arm. The rear rail is tenoned into the continuous rear stiles. The arms are set into notches in the rear stiles and pinned from the back. The crest rail and horizontal splat are tenoned into the rear stiles. The seat is caned to the seat rails. The entire wood surface is painted black.

Condition: The paint and the caning are modem restorations.

Location: Andalusia, Yellow Parlor.

Provenance: Possibly John Craig, based on estate inventory record of “2 cane Arm chairs.”

89

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Armchair, circa 1810-1820. From and side v iews. Photography by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

00

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 11

Sofa Table American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1830-1840 Anthony Quervelle 29” high 54 1/4” wide 30 1/4” deep

Description: Maple-veneered sofa table supported by pedestal bases. Each base is mounted on a horizontal turned stretcher or “horse”. The top surrounds a painted slate top with a picturesque scene of waterfalls, bordered by classical motifs on a black background.

Materials: Tulip poplar pedestals and frame for the top. Solid maple stretcher and feet. Maple veneers. Painted slate top.

Construction: Dovetailed tulip-poplar framed top. Three braces beneath the top run front to back and are tenoned into the front and back rails. Shaped blocks are nailed up into the underside of the ends of each brace. The under surface of the top is stained with iron oxide. A bead has been applied to the bottom of the rails. The rails are decorated with vertically grained bird’s-eye maple veneers in one foot sections. The top frame is made of 2” by 4” tulip poplar let into the rails. Rosewood and maple crossbanding veneer cover the frame of the slate top. An astragal molding edges the top. The base supports are tenoned into the end rails and connected by a turned and carved stretcher. The outside surface of the supports is veneered and stylized tulip carvings are applied to the bottom of supports. The solid feet are also veneered with applied bosses, supported by castors.

Condition: There is evidence on the end rails of a former modification of the top into a coffeetable. The back left rail is cracked and reinforced with screws. Screws at the bottom of one of the supports repair the split base. Some evidence of refinishing. Some loose veneer.

Markings: Label on center brace

Location: Andalusia, Yellow Parlor

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), by descent to present owner.

91

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. So fa Table, Anthony Quervelle, circa 1830-1840. Photograph by Author. Courtesy The Andalusia Foundation.

92

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Sofa Table. View of painted slate top. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

Sofa Table. View of short side. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

93

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 12

Table American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1820-1840 29” high 43” wide 57” deep center section 22 1/2” deep with leaves down

Description: Mahogany drop-leaf table. Single drawer on short side of skirt. Top supported by four columnar legs on a rectangular base with lion paw feet.

Materials: Mahogany frame, leaves, top, legs, feet and drawer front covered with mahogany veneers. Tulip poplar drawer blades, supports and stops. White pine drawer sides. Brass and wood castors. Pressed glass drawer pull.

Construction: One large dovetail connects the bottom horizontal member of the drawer frame into the side blocks. The upper side of the drawer frame is joined to side blocks with three small dovetails. Screws are driven through the rails into the top. The leaves come up on a quarter-round roll joint. The drawer is supported by tulip poplar rails. The columnar legs are tenoned into the side rails of the skirt and the rectangular bases. Turned stretchers are tenoned into the two bases. The feet are carved from the solid and nailed up into the bases. The fly rails have two leaf supports that swing out on pintel joints. The supports are carved out to form a handle. The front and back of the drawer are dovetailed to the sides. The chamfered bottom slides into grooves in the drawer sides. Two glue blocks are in place at the rear of the drawer sides. The interior is stained.

Condition: Some cracking of veneer. Drawer pull old but not original.

Location: Andalusia, Yellow Parlor

Provenance: Possibly Nicholas Biddle.

94

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table, circa 1820-L 840. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

Table. Detail of carving. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

95

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 13

Chest of Drawers American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1830-1845 44 3/4” high 45 7/8” wide 20 1/4” deep

Description: A five-drawer chest with three long drawers and two short drawers, all with turned maple pulls. A frame-and panel-case with rounded front comers encloses the drawers. Turned feet support the case. All exterior surfaces other than the side panels and feet are veneered with tiger’s eye maple. Each drawer has its original steel lock.

Materials: Solid maple case, top, feet, drawer fronts and drawer pulls. Drawer dividers are tulip poplar. Drawer sides and bottoms are pine. Maple veneer over posts, drawer fronts, and case top. Steel locks.

Construction: Turned feet are tenoned into a mortise-and-tenoned base frame, which supports the case. The sides of the case are constructed in a frame-and-panel manner. The chamfered edge of the panel faces the inside of the case. The top of the side frames are lapped onto the back posts and tenoned into the front posts. The structure is reinforced by horizontal braces on the interior of the sides tenoned into the posts. The drawer dividers are also tenoned into the front posts. At the top of the front posts an extra rounded facing has been added to make the top two drawers appear like they project over the bottom drawers. The vertical drawer divider between the two top drawers is tenoned into the horizontal drawer divider. The center drawer support is tenoned into the horizontal drawer divider and the rear panel, reinforced with a glue block. The top is attached with screws from the inside of the frame sides. The drawers are dovetail construction.

Markings: “1” and “2” written with stain or varnish on the bottom of the two small drawers and also on the horizontal divider beneath each drawer.

Condition: Moderate cracking of the veneer, particularly on the rounded front posts.

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), by descent to present owner.

Location: Andalusia, Second Floor, Northwest Comer Bedroom.

96

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. As discussed in the text (see p. 44-45), the chest of drawers is an almost exact representation of the form as described in the 1828Book o f Prices. In addition to the use of maple, the choice of turned wood pulls was another “fashion statement.” Describing a chest of drawers for a cottage dwelling, J.C. Loudon wrote: “Knobs o f the same wood as the fumiture...are now generally substituted, as in most other pieces o f furniture, for

brass. They harmonise better, and do not tarnish; besides, the fashion is, at present,

comparatively new in London, and this confers to them a certain degree of factitious elegance, viz., that of novelty and fashion.”1

lLoudon, 13.

97

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chest o f Drawers, circa 1830-1845. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

98

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 14

Bureau with dressing mirror American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1830-1840 42 1/2” high; 79 1/2” high with mirror 43” wide 22 5/8” deep

Description: A five-drawer chest of drawers with two projecting round-front drawers at the top. The top appears to be supported by two free-standing columns with carved capitals and bases. A separate dressing mirror with three drawers, suspended mirror, and turned feet, rests on the top of the chest of drawers. Curly-maple veneer covers all exterior surfaces.

Materials: Maple side panels, feet, columns. Tulip poplar case. Drawer sides and bottoms are pine. Maple veneer.

Construction: The sides and back are joined frame-and-panel construction, with the square comer posts forming the sides of the frame. Horizontal side braces tenoned into the front and back posts provide support for the case. The drawer dividers are tenoned into the continuous front posts. The case sits on a frame that protrudes out from the base of the drawers. The turned feet are tenoned into the frame. The two turned and carved columns are tenoned into the base frame and into the added comer blocks at the top of the front posts. These blocks, and the half-round fronts of the top two drawers give the appearance of a projecting top. The top is secured with screws driven up through the side panels. The vertical drawer divider at the top is D-shaped, and through tenoned twice into the drawer divider. The drawer sides are dovetailed at front and back, with bottoms let into grooves in the sides, and then nailed up. Retains original steel locks and turned wooden pulls, with some remnants of black paint. The dressing mirror is a dovetailed box supported by turned feet. The solid mirror supports are tenoned through the top of the box. The mirror frame is joined at mitered comers. The drawer fronts are finely dovetailed to the sides, and the bottoms are let into grooves in the sides.

Marks or Inscriptions: Chest of Drawers: “1” and “2” stained under left and right short drawer, respectively. Top long drawer has “6x” in pencil on the back of the drawer and on the divider. “3x” on the same locations for middle long drawer. “IX” scratched into the side of the bottom drawer and “X” in pencil on back of bottom drawer. Dressing Mirror: “2” stained under bottom of right short drawer, covered by “3” in

99

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. pencil; “L” stained under bottom of left short drawer.

Condition: Some cracking and loss of veneer. Drawer pulls on dressing mirror are plastic replacements.

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), by descent to present owner.

Location: Andalusia, Second Floor, Northeast Bedroom

The use of free-standing columns makes this piece similar to bureaus and chests of drawers made by Thomas Cook of Philadelphia, but the carving of the Andalusia example is less sophisticated.1 On later examples the maker often joined the dressing mirror and chest-of-drawers into one piece.

The form is a variation of the “standing” dressing table of French origin and illustrated in Muebles Et Objets De Gout. Like the Andalusia example, the French model

also possessed an adjustable mirror supported between two columns, but the base more closely resembled an open pier table. Anthony Quervelle in Philadelphia and Isaac Vose in Boston both made dressing tables in this style.2 In hisCabinet Makers ’ Assistant John

Hall published both the French design, which he called a ‘Toilette Table”, and a more American design with a full range of drawers beneath the mirror, which he described as a

“Dressing Bureau.”3 Baltimore cabinetmaker John Needles executed a few bureaus based on Hall’s designs in figured maple.4

‘DAPC. Files for Thomas Cook.

2DAPC. Files for Anthony Quervelle. The Vose table is published in Wendy Cooper’sIn Praise o f America: American Decorative Arts, 1650-1830 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980) 24, Figure 20.

3Hall, Plate 36.

4DAPC. Files 64.1225 and 64.1230

100

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dressing Bureau, circa 1830-1840. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

101

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dressing Bureau. Detail of column. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of the Andalusia Foundation.

102

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 15

Side Chair (one of four) American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1830-1845 32 5/8” high seat height 17 1/8” 17 3/8” wide at crest 20” deep at feet

Description: Cane-seat figured-maple side chair, with solid vase-shape splat and rounded crest rail. Round stretchers connect the side and back legs and arched flat stretcher is between the front legs.

Materials: Maple, cane.

Construction: The stretchers are tenoned into the legs. The side rails are tenoned into the continuous rear stiles and the front legs. A rounded front seat rail is tenoned into the front legs, and a square back seat rail is tenoned into the stiles. The sawn vase-shape splat is tenoned into the rear rail and the crest rail. The crest rail is lapped and pinned onto the stiles. An extra strip of maple is nailed to the inside of the seat frame, in order to provide a ground for the caning.

Condition: Refinished. Modem caning.

Location: Andalusia, Second Floor, Northeast Bedroom.

Provenance: Possibly Nicholas Biddle.

103

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Side Chair, circa 1830-1845. Front and side views. Photographs by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

104

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 16

Side Chair American 1830-1850 32 1/2” high seat height 18” with upholstery 17” wide 16 5/8” deep

Description: Maple yoked-back side chair, the stiles and crest rail with molded fronts. A carved horizontal splat spans the back. Slightly saber back legs and turned and reeded front legs are connected by turned stretchers. Over-stuffed modem upholstery is nailed over the seat rail.

Materials: Maple. Modem upholstery fabric and brass nails.

Construction: The side and front seat rails are tenoned into the turned front legs and partially turned rear stiles. All of the turned stretchers are tenoned into the legs. The stiles are tenoned into the yoke crest rail, and the entire front surface of the chair back molded with four reeds. The horizontal splat is tenoned into the stiles.

Condition: Refinished. Modem upholstery.

Location: Andalusia, Second Floor, Southeast Bedroom.

Provenance: Possibly Nicholas Biddle.

105

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Side Chair, circa 1830-1850. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

106

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CATALOGUE 17

Bedstead (one of pair) American Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1820-1840 39 1/2” high at each end 41 7/8” wide 83” deep

Description: Low-post maple bedstead with headboard and foot board composed of sawn and turned posts connected by a broad panel and a turned stretcher.

Material: Maple. Brass hardware.

Construction: The four comer posts were sawn into a scroll-shape at the top and turned at the bottom. The panel and stretcher are tenoned into the posts. The mattress frame is 3 5/8” by 1 5/8” boards tenoned into the posts. A cast brass cover hides the iron bed bolt which reinforces the tenons of the frame. The head and foot rails have chamfered comers on their upper inside edge. Four iron L-brackets bolted to the side rails support the modem mattress. The original brass castors support the bedstead.

Condition: Good. A modem brass rod has been added below the frame for attaching a bed skirt.

Location: Andalusia, Second Floor, Northeast Bedroom.

Provenance: Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), by descent to present owner.

107

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Bedstead, circa 1820-1840. Photograph by Author. Courtesy of The Andalusia Foundation.

108

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.