ePub The Armenians: Art; Culture and Religion by Nira Stone; Michael Stone in History

Description

In Plain Sight: Discovering the Furniture of Nathaniel Gould is the stunning result of happy accident and indefatigable; dedicated research. In the field of early American furniture made in Massachusetts; Nathaniel Gould has loomed as something of a mystery — believed to have been prolific; handsomely skilled; and exceptionally enterprising; yet considered elusive because of a scarcity of known works; lack of documentation; and difficulties of attribution. Accident — the unexpected discovery of Gould’s day books and account book in the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society — and analysis — painstaking and inductive — have produced an invaluable; multifaceted case study.This book establishes Gould unquestionably as Salem’s leading cabinetmaker before and during the period of the American Revolution. He made substantial and often expensive furniture; including case pieces of bombé form embellished with carving. The number of works that can be attributed to Gould remains small; but the foundation for increasingly assured connoisseurship lies within these pages and Gould’s archival records. The scale of his workshop; his impressively large; diverse clientele; and his successes in Salem’s furniture export trade attest to his achievements as an entrepreneur.However; this book illuminates not only a particular individual; but the Salem/Boston/New England spheres in which Gould operated during a tumultuous time in American history. The scrupulously recorded notations in his ledgers are precious clues to emerging concepts of style and taste; cultural mores; business practices; socio-economic circumstances; and familial histories with local; regional; and national relevance.In Plain Sight presents a choice array of forms confidently assigned to Gould’s shop; and makes accessible the ledgers themselves; meticulously analyzed and interpreted to facilitate present and ongoing scholarship regarding Nathaniel Gould; Salem; early New England furniture; and colonial America.