Description:
Off-white cotton netted tester with knotted fringe. According to the donor, a handwritten note dated 1977 accompanied the tester stating that it was owned by Mrs. Charles Torrey (1798-1862). The tester came into the hands of Miss Fanny Torrey Sturgis, and then given to a Mrs. Mixter. Netted testers to adorn the tops, or testers, of four poster beds, were introduced into Deerfield's Arts and Crafts industry through Emma Henry (1843-1927), born Lucy Emerine Amidon. She was self taught and influenced later practioners, including Gertrude Cochrane Smith, Rachel Hawks (1887-1977), and Margery Howe. By the middle of the 20th century, many erroneously believed that netted testers like this example recreated earlier,18th-century examples, when in fact they did not, and were an invention of the Colonial Revival period. While the netting technique was old, the practice of decorating testers with netted and notted fringe was a decorative solution to four-poster beds still in use where valences and bed curtains were no longer practical or fashionable.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Cotton Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+93.024.01 |
