Featured Eastern Shore Virginia - Chesapeake

Blithering meet your idiots! I hope they at least know better now. Who in their right minds would strip the birds off a bird chest???

At least the dimwits didn't polyurethane it!

 

Well, in the case of the MET, context is important here.
Mrs Russel Sage purchased the entire Bolles collection (probably the greatest collection of American furniture ever assembled) in 1909 and gifted it to the MET. (with the idea of creating the " American Wing" for the first time in history)
Not a single piece of American furniture was displayed in any museum in America at that time, it was considered "not worthy" of collecting or public display.
So not only was collecting American furniture new, publicly displaying it in a museum setting was new, and restoring it was new, not to mention, PRIMITIVE by today's standards.
1909 was a long time ago.
So, it is not surprising that MISTAKES were made, no getting around it.
Taken in the context of the time though, we are damn lucky the director of the MET talked Mrs Sage into purchasing that collection and donating it to the MET. Otherwise, we would be missing A LOT more than just "bird decorations" on that Boston Pilgrim chest, the chest itself would probably be missing.
It took a lot vision (MET), a hell of a lot of money (mrs sage), and much hard work by many to bring all that together so the American Wing could open in 1929.
So I for one am thankful for the MET although yes, there were a few casualties in making all that happen.

 

After stripping, guessing they put an oil-based varnish finish on it, they wanted it to look its best when presenting to the world for the 1st time, in a "brown wood" sort of way.

 

The only known bird chest ( out of 20 or so extant) that survived the brown wood people and STILL! has its BIRDS!

At the Brooklyn Museum

click to enlarge



BTW, The "bird" chest thingy is just my nickname for these chests, no one else calls them that.

 

And who knows what that one would bring if it hit the market. Probably not as much as a "pretty" plain one.

 

Hmmm, I doubt that. That photo was lifted from, Albert Sack's New Fine Points of Furniture, good, better, best, superior, masterpiece.
He listed the above-painted bird chest in the masterpiece category.

 

I can just see whoever owned the house in Bloom's estate sale pictures buying it and making it all "pretty". (that house is a decorator's nightmare.)

 

Was just on the Brooklyn museum website searching a Roux card table for a different thread and here is a better photo of the "bird" chest that they have.
It is the only known example with its original paint decoration, they have it dated 1690.
It is not on view , they should give it to me! OR, I'll trade them theirs for mine!
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/992

click to enlarge

 

In my very 1st post ever on these forums that started out in "introductions" & then was switched over to furniture, Greg, who is no longer with us made the above comment after seeing both chests in person, the stripped MET one & the original painted one at Brooklyn.
Greg saw them both in person as he lived in the area & was a BIG fan of the MET in general but, I never forgot that above quote either.
It goes a long way in explaining how these "stripping crazes" come about.

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/hello-happy-4th-of-july.18734/

 

NO! not yet, shipper has had some issues, he called last night though, and said
"in the next few days".
So, I got THAT goin for me.

 

LOL, Well, I ran into some trolls & harpy crowd and the rest, as they say, is HISTORY!

 

ME TOO!
It's been sitting in a storage locker since he picked it up so safe as far as I know.
Claimed he's had employee issues which has set him back, it will be 1 month since he picked it up come Sept 16th

 

Oy. It's a good thing for him you can't file an INR.

 

?????? not familiar with INR
Shipper is a Californian & laid back to the point of almost comatose so.........

 

INR - Item Not Received

 

It's an online buying site "thing" much hated by eBay and Etsy sellers. People can file it when the USPS delivers something late and get both the item AND their money and the seller gets to eat the loss of both. Not to mention a $20 penalty most of the time.

 

Yeah, I hear you, scammers paradise. I don't buy on eBay and, I suspect I am not alone.
Has an account there but sometimes YEARS before I go there, usually a link from this forum takes me there to look at some object.