Period Furniture - American - Reference Books

[TENdriver]

Not sure how many of you do American period furniture builds but I have spent a small fortune buying out-of-print and coffee table art books on period furniture. One great resource for old pieces is the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMoA) in New York. They tend to be pretty generous with online material including some detailed photographs along with offering some of their publications for free:icon_thum.


The book on American furniture of the early colonial period is one of the most helpful for builders. It has additional details about materials and some additional dimensions that this type of book usually does not include. For example: specific type of wood for each element of a mixed wood piece or dimension of turning squares for table legs. Very handy if you're reproducing or designing a period piece.




Here are a couple of their period furniture books that are online or pdf:


American Kasten: The Dutch-Style Cupboards of New York and New Jersey, 1650–1800

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpub...upboards_of_New_York_and_New_Jersey_1650_1800#




American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Early Colonial Period [the online preview is the entire book!]

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpub...th_Century?Tag=&title=furniture&author=gruber safford&pt=0&tc=0&dept=0&fmt=0



American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Late Colonial Period. Vol. II, The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpub...d_Vol_II_The_Queen_Anne_a?Tag=&title=american furniture&author=&pt=0&tc=0&dept=0&fmt=0



Baltimore Federal Furniture in The American Wing

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpub...ture_in_the_American_Wing?Tag=&title=american furniture&author=&pt=0&tc=0&dept=0&fmt=0

 

[Willemjm]

Good post!

I have tons of books on Period furniture, and sneak a camera picture whenever there is an opportunity. I normally re-design though and use the pictures as inspiration. My materials cover the US, Europe and pretty much the globe. I have also cheated and on occasion where there is a lot of hand carving, copied and pasted the images on Autocad, designed the piece and used prints on the wood. The Armoire on my website under"portfolio" is an example.