AFA Summer 2020

Summer 56 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com The most exciting find, however, was yet to come. As we sifted through the Washington/Fairfax correspondence with fresh eyes, we rediscovered a reference to additional furniture the Washingtons received from the Fairfaxes as a gift rather than purchase. In March 1775, after the auction, Fairfax wrote to Washington concerning the furniture in the “Blue, or Dressing Room.” If it had not been sold, he wrote, “I must beg your acceptance of [it].” As this was the case, Washington moved the referenced furniture to Mount Vernon, and after the Revolution, wrote to Fairfax letting him know it was in his possession. From the Fairfax account book, we learned that the furniture in question was one of the most elaborate suites of seating furniture in eighteenth-century Virginia. The suite consisted of eight backstools (chairs upholstered on their backs and seats) and a sofa, the first documented in eighteenth-century Virginia. The Washingtons used the furniture in their front parlor, one of the most formal spaces in the mansion, where it remained for the rest of their lives (Figs. 3, 4). Inventory takers listed it simply in Washington’s probate as a “Sopha” and “Mahogany Chairs.” The account book provided enough information to allow Mount Vernon curators and an international team of furniture scholars and conservators to reconstruct the appearance of the suite and install it in the front parlor room. The furniture took experimentation with long forgotten dye recipes, specialty weaving, and the extraordinary skills of several craftsmen to reconstruct. FORM The first step in the reconstruction process was to determine the form of the furniture. The account book described the chairs as “8 Mahy. Marlboroug Stuff back Chairs Stuff’d in the best French Fig. 4: The front parlor viewed from the central passage with the New Room beyond. The Washingtons purchased a Wilton carpet from Philadelphia in 1797 and requested that the main design be blue to accord with the furniture. The Washingtons likely had the original matching curtains cut down to accommodate smaller windows. Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Photo, Gavin Ashworth.