Two Clocks

A lecture on the Nottingham/Octorara school of furniture drew upwards of 150 people to a meeting of the Oxford Area Historical Association the evening of Sept. 10. Two furniture experts from Winterthur -- Wendy Cooper, Curator Emeritus of Furniture, and Mark Anderson, senior furniture conservator -- discussed the creative cabinetmakers who flourished in the southwestern part of Chester County in the eighteenth century.
Ms. Cooper explained that the craftsmen were influenced by their peers in Philadelphia and by period architectural styles but put their own spin on the furniture they created, in one instance adding a little drawer for a tall-clock key. She argued that criticism of the non-urban furniture makers as being unsophisticated is wholly unfounded: "It's great," she said. "They were great craftsmen, and very creative."
The two curators used two locally made tall clocks as examples to highlight the characteristics of the school of design, such as Greek-key designs, dentil and drill patterns, fretwork, thick wood (usually walnut) and ogee feet. One slide showed a sketch in white chalk that they found inside one case, apparently an attempt by the maker to experiment with a vine pattern that he was planning before carving it.
Ms. Cooper also showed two letters, one a bill from clockmaker Benjamin Chandlee for 12 pounds for the clock movement. The other was from the casemaker, Jacob Brown, to the client, explaining that "the fever" had struck both his shop and his family and caused a delay in the process.