| Plate II. The purpose of the hooks in the parlor is not
known, although such hooks are found in other parlors and kitchens of Kent Hollow houses.
The corner cupboard is original to the house. The curly-maple slant-front desk was made in
Preston, Connecticut, c. 1775, and is attributed to John Wheeler Geer (1753-1828). Above
it hangs a seventeenth-century map of Virginia in an eighteenth-century pearwood frame.The
mahogany Massachusetts armchair of c. 1780 is upholstered in a reproduction of an
eighteenth-century wool damask. The maple sofa was made in western Massachusetts c. 1800.
The mahogany tea table was also made in Massachusetts, c. 1770. On it are a pair of early
eighteenth century English brass candlesticks and a rare Chinese porcelain bowl of the Tao
Kuang period (1821-1850) bearing on the bottom the characters for "made at Shen-te at
the Hall of Broad Knowledge of Ancient Things." The late eighteenth-century portrait
by an unknown artist is one of a pair found in Shelburne, Massachusetts, still in their
original frames, depicting an anonymous parson (see Fig. 1) and his wife. Below it is a
cherry candlestand from Connecticut, c. 1770. |
