Description:
Tilt-top candle stand with exuberant marquetry top and pedestal, on three shaped legs, once owned by Rev. Dwight Moody (1837-1899) of Northfield. This table belongs to a group of furniture including the shelf parts, 2018.47.2, which were once in Rev. Moody's home. It is believed that Dwight's brother, (Edwin) Isiah Moody (1828-1916) made this suite of furniture. Isiah was listed in the 1860 Census as a chairmaker in Northfield, Massachusetts. The suite of furniture was sold by Bruce McBachen of Pioneer auctions (McBachen took over the auction house from William Hubbard) in Sunderland, Massachusetts around the turn of the twenty-first century. Hank Ross of Northampton, Massachusetts, bought this table and the shelf parts from an antique dealer in Northfield in 2004 or 2005, alongside two tables (including this one), a corner shelf, and a large step-backed sideboard. It was thought throughout this period that Dwight Moody made these pieces, but a photograph of Moody's brother in front of his cabinetmaking shop Mr. Ross found on the internet confirmed his suspicion that the pieces were made by Moody's brother. Mr. Ross consigned these pieces to Northfield Auctions in 2012, where the seller acquired this table and the shelf parts. The pieces not at Historic Deerfield are now in two private collections, one in Bernardston, Massachusetts and the other in New York State, and one piece is now in the collection of the Northfield Historical Society. Rev. Dwight L. Moody was an important figure in the American evangelical movement of the later nineteenth century. He founded the Moody Church, the Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers in Chicago, Illiniois, and Northfield School and Mount Hermon School (now Northfield Mount Hermon School), in Northfield, Massashusetts. As a traveling preacher in the United Kingdom and the United States, his preaching sessions sometimes attracted thousands of attendees. In the United States, his evangelistic meetings were held as far away as San Diego, and he also held sermons in Vancouver, Canada. In 1876, President Grant and members of his cabinet attended a Moody sermon. His hymns and sermons were published in large numbers and widely disseminated. Moddy continues the tradition, begun with the First and Second Awakenings in early America, of important religious figures who were resident in the Connecticut River Valley, including Rev. Jonathan Ashley (1712-1780) and Rev. John Williams (1664-1729). The highly-figured wood at center is probably a species of pine, possibly pitch pine. The other woods could include the sapwood of an apple or pear tree.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2018.47.1 |
