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Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:Gomer Bolstrood

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

A page for Gomer Bolstrood.

Stephensonia

A man destined to be the crafter of furniture, that will cause your offspring to fight each other for, when you pass on.

Community: Gomer Bolstrood

Speculation is that Gomer is the Cryptonomicon's Ethan Allen. Gomer is the son of Knott Bolstrood. When Enoch Root comments on the Bolstrood clan going from firebrands to furniture-makers in one generation; Daniel corrects him with, "Firebrands and furniture-makers."

When the Waterhouse family gathers to divy up Mary_cCmndhd's belongings in Cryptonomicon, Nina -- daughter of Lawrence Waterhouse, aunt to Randy Waterhouse -- covets a Gomer Bolstrood console. (Page 626) "I don't think it's out of the question that I would commit physical violence in order to defend my rightful ownership of that console." There is also mention of a Gomer Bolstrood cadenza (Page 569), dining room set (Page 627), and a bed. Considered 'grandma furniture', it is coveted mightily by women of the current day, even to the point of being something of an aphrodisiac.

While Ethan Allen furniture is today somewhat middle-class (the company itself is only 70 years old and has no ties to Ethan Allen or his family other than having Vermont based factories, the name was first registered by a New York retailer), there is also Dana Robes furniture, which is quite expensive and based on Shaker influence. The Robes facilities are based at the old Shaker community site in Enfield, NH and their most mundane products command multi-thousand dollar price tags in the best showrooms anywhere, which implies the sort of wife-arousing cachet that is implied by the experiences of both Avi Halaby and Randy Waterhouse.

The Shakers, being an offshoot of the Quaker movement, might be a better analog to the "Barkers" in Quicksilver, though the Shakers themselves only arose in the 1730's, and are an offshoot of an earlier Quaker sect in Manchester, England.

Prominent furniture makers of the period:

  • Andre C. Boulle
  • Grinling Gibbons
  • Burrough and Farmbouroug
  • Daniel Marot
  • William Kent: UK designer
  • Garret Johnson: UK furniture maker
  • Jacques Dubois
  • Gillows furniture makers
  • Thomas Chippendale: UK
  • Thomas Elfe: American furniture maker
  • J. Baumhauer: French ebeniste
  • George Seddon: UK cabinet maker
  • Townsend-Goddard: America

Also: Hitchcock, Lambert

1795-1852, American chairmaker, b. Cheshire, Conn. In 1818 in Barkhamsted, Conn., Hitchcock established a factory whose employees came to number about 100. The village that the factory created was named Hitchcockville (changed in 1866 to Riverton). Hitchcock at first made parts of chairs and sold the parts to chairmakers. Later, he discontinued this business and manufactured complete chairs that were sold throughout the United States. The Hitchcock chair is characteristic of its time and has come to be sought by collectors. It is a factory product, typically not carved or upholstered, and is painted black over red, often with designs stenciled in colors or bronze. It is of good wood and is sturdily built. The legs and rungs are simple and well turned. The seat is of wood, cane, or rush. The name of L. Hitchcock or of a firm that he formed (Hitchcock, Alford & Company) is stenciled on the back edge of the seat.

Bibliography: See J. T. Kenney, The Hitchcock Chair (1971).

English Period Furniture

Commonwealth Period 1649-1660

Puritan Cromwells overthrew the monarchy, which saw the strict abolition of all frivolity.

The Puritan scorned even the subdued richness of the Jacobeans. Therefore function prevailed over decoration. Any mouldings were applied rather than carved.

Cromwellean Style

  1. Furniture followed basic shapes and had to be useful.
  2. Furniture with straight severe lines without carving or other enrichments.
  3. Simple bobbin turning.
  4. For the first time chairs were made in sets with the front stretcher rail placed higher and often with two sets of side stretcher rails.
  5. Leather was used to replace rich velvet and tapestries.
  6. Stuffed seats and backs were far too luxurious to be permitted.
  7. Slung seats and backs were used.
  8. Open slat chair backs.

William and Mary 1689-1702

This period was named after the marriage of the English Mary Stuart, the daughter of James II to the Dutch William of Orange.

The Dutch prince brought with him new ideas of comfort for the ordinary person. The furniture in his reign saw the first beginnings of real comfort. Upholstery became common. The chair backs were shaped slightly to fit the shape of your back and the back legs were splayed out at the bottom to prevent the chair from tipping backwards.

Bureaux were made strong enough to allow for a bookcase to be added on top for convenience. The Cabriole leg, which is identified with the Queen Anne Period, was borrowed from Holland, which meant the stretcher was gradually phased out.

The King not only imported ideas from Holland, but the craftsmen who left their mark on English Furniture history.

Walnut timber was used for furniture. Oriental lacquer finishes over cheaper timbers became more common. Front fall writing cabinets were developed. Simpler lines with more delicate proportions than before were seen.

  1. Elaborate veneering and marquetry replaced carving - using holly, ebony, satinwood and ivory.
  2. Upholstery became popular with the stuff over technique.
  3. The china cabinet was developed to hold the Queens' hobby, collecting delft and oriental porcelain.
  4. The bureau with a bookcase was set on stands.
  5. Back legs matched front legs.
  6. Feet were simple bun or pear shaped or goat's hoof. First cabriole leg was often left square.
  7. Legs often connected with x shaped stretchers with a finial at the junction. #Stretchers were left flat with a veneered surface.
  8. Smaller dining rooms changed the emphasis on dining furniture.
  9. Gateleg tables.
  10. Flemish Scroll.
  11. Apart from the bed, bedroom furniture had not yet taken. Cabinets, bureaux, day beds, tables and easy chairs were used. There was no dressing table: usually a gilded framed mirror hung over the toilet table.
  12. Tallboys began to develop raised off the unusual stand.
  13. Inverted cup turning and tapered trumpet

Queen Anne 1702 -1714

The gracious and comfortable furniture from the Dutch influence continued and the English craftsman were developing their own skills.

They had learned the foreign techniques and started to create a distinct English style. As the room sizes were now much smaller the pieces of furniture were less massive than those of previous centuries and the comfort was provided for in the chairs.

The chair is the single item that most typifies any one period and there is no exception with this period. The Queen Anne Chair is very well known and still popular today.

It features curved lines with the top rail flowing into the back legs with no obvious joints. Stretcher rails were omitted, as they were now unnecessary with cabriole legs. Walnut was still the most popular timber being used for furniture making, most of these articles featured cross-grained mouldings, rounded friezes and with many veneered surfaces, marquetry was replaced with fine carving. The cross-grained moulding was a feature that was exclusive to walnut work. It was not practical to make short-grained mouldings in the solid, so a thin layer of cross-grained walnut was glued to a long grained backing. Time was then allowed for shrinkage and any splits were then filled in.

A greater leisure time saw the demand for small tables for tea, games etc. The Windsor chair dates from this period also.

  1. Pembroke table pivot top and drawer in end.
  2. Dressing mirrors designed to sit on toilet table, or writing table was the #beginning of the dressing table.
  3. Tall boy - the extension of the chest of drawers, formed by placing one on top of the other.
  4. Graduation of drawers was purely English.
  5. Writing desk with sloping front and lopers to support.
  6. Twin pedestal desk has its origin in the knee hole writing table.
  7. The secretaire similar to the bureau in having a vertical front and bracket feet.
  8. Oyster pattern veneer.
  9. Cock beads, protection for veneer.
  10. Queen Anne Chair
  11. Furniture relied on its graceful well-proportioned shapes. Carving almost disappeared or only on the escalloped shell on the knee.
  12. Unbroken curved lines.
  13. Urn or vase shape splat shaped to fit the back (spooned).
  14. Chair backs were considerably narrower at the back.
  15. Stuffed over seats or drop in.
  16. Wing chairs to protect user from draughts.
  17. Cabriole legs, sometimes terminated with a claw and a ball.
  18. Windsor chair with shaped seat.
  19. Most early Windsor chairs has front cabriole legs.
  20. Smaller folding tables including concertina tables with cabriole legs increased in popularity due to tea and card games.
  21. Difficulty in veneering large tops led to folding tables and four way matching.
  22. Bureau (secretaire) no drawers