Norfolk, Virginia, 1775
Mahogany with yellow pine
Long-term loan from Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hill Carter
Catalog no. 121
Design for a “Clothes Press” (plate CII)
Thomas Chippendale
The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1754)
The mahogany clothespress displayed here is one of the original furnishings at Shirley plantation, the home of the Carter family in Charles City County, Virginia. Dated 1775, the piece was acquired by the Carters about the same time they began a substantial renovation of Shirley.
Signed by Norfolk cabinetmaker John Selden, the press is one of the best examples of how regional makers sometimes relied on published design sources. Selden worked in Norfolk for nearly twenty years before losing his shop in a fire that destroyed the city in 1776. He then relocated to Blandford, near Petersburg, where he offered local patrons a wide range of British-inspired furniture forms.