17TH CENTURY ANTIQUE COLONIAL / WILLIAM & MARY PANELED OAK CRADLE ~ PLYMOUTH COLONY CA 1686 ~ CARVED & MONOGRAMMED
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With our highest compliments and utmost honors, Bay Colony Antiques is proud to offer for sale this exceptional 17th century antique paneled oak cradle. In reality this predates the William & Mary period but we opted to use that in the title for our clients putting together colonial collections. Life in 16 & 17th century America was incredibly difficult with ever looming risks of starvation, war, disease, or tumultuous weather. The French, English, & Spanish empires all attempted to colonize America in the 16th century and most attempts were unsuccessful. The most well known colonial failure is probably the lost city of Roanoke. By the 17th century settlements were in better shape with emerging populations in New Amsterdam, Charlestown, Jamestown, etc. The earliest settlers embarked on their dangerous, roughly two month journey across the Atlantic with only the most necessary supplies to start a new community. Furniture would take up a lot of cargo space and North America had an immense amount of fresh timber available so not much made it over from Europe. Cabinet makers and joiners were an integral part of establishing a successful community and many talented, Dutch, Spanish, Scottish, & English cabinet makers settled in North America.
The cradle has nice deep chamfered panels, proud peg joinery, turned finials, and a fantastic carved, monogrammed, and dated head board. The carvings and design are consistent with Plymouth Colony furniture we've handled in the past but we have seen similar examples from the Massachusetts Bay Colony & Colonial Rhode Island. With Colonial furniture most was comprised of different turned elements joined together like a Carver or Brewster chair. Chairs and cabinets with joined panels were much more costly to produce and would have only been available to prominent families. Most homes were scarcely furnished with your average family owning a chest, a table, a few joint stools, and not much more. The cradle is in excellent condition with our only condition note being replaced rockers. The cradle measures 25 1/4" wide at the rocker blades x 38" deep. The height at the headboard is 27" tall and 23 1/2" tall at the footboard. The interior measures 13 3/4" wide x 36" deep.