With our absolute highest compliments Bay Colony Antiques takes the utmost pleasure in offering for sale one of the finest early American beds available anywhere throughout the country. This four post bed is among the most commanding and masterfully carved that we have been fortunate enough to handle in the last several decades and we have watched as demand has surged for early American beds of the highest order as traditional bedmaking has become a lost art. For early furniture collectors their bed is the most intimate and important part of the entire household collection, and they have well placed concerns before moving forward with purchasing any bed of a historical nature. The most important consideration is stability and continued use over time. We are highly conscience that your bed has to be exactly right and free of any loose components that may compromise the strength of the bed. The full size bed we now at present offer for sale is as strong and dependable as any bed can possibly be and there are absolutely no parts of the frame that will falter over time. Antique beds have a reputation of being creaky and unreliable which in part is why we have such a high standard for which beds we will offer to our clients and why we have one of the best restorers in the industry personally inspect each bed for quality control purposes since your bed demands a high level of scrutinization before it is placed into your home for generations to come.
The stylization of the carving work through each post closely resembles that of the New York master carvers who worked in New York City for makers such as Duncan Phyfe at the height of the American federal period. We believe based on scholarship and our own experience that this bed was made for a patron who either lived in the Hudson Valley of New York or further north along the Vermont border towards the end of the federal period. The headboard is styled with scrolled ends most commonly found in the furniture influenced by the designs of Thomas Sheraton which reached its pinnacle in the earlier half of the 19th century. The side rails are of a later period which undoubtedly lengthened the bed making it suitable for full sized bedding. The rails are figured tiger maple stained in a darker finish to compliment the original finish of the mahogany and maple bed posts. It is common among early beds for the footboard posts to be carved with lavish ornamentation while the headboard posts are well turned but left without carvings. This is because traditionally these posts would be obscured or covered with a decorative fabric standard for the time period. Each of the footboard posts are carved with precision and close attention to proportion and detail as they feature pineapple formed tops and spiralized acanthus leaf carvings which transition back into pineapple carvings in the center before terminating along the lower ringlets. The bed is raised by four turned legs which are carved in the same manner at the footboard posts. We respectfully ask that you measure the height of your bedroom ceiling before adding this spectacular bed into your collection. The bed measures 60" wide x 83 1/4" deep x 90" tall. The interior has useable dimensions of 54" wide x 75" long which will accept a standard full size box spring.
