Chester County Furniture
Perhaps you have visited the Brinton 1704 house and you've seen the wonderful bible box belonging to Elinor Brinton (wife of Moses Brinton, who was the great-grandson of William the Colonist), dated 1747 that sits upstairs in the master bedroom. This special family piece includes a carved motif of vine and berries on its front.
The vine and berries were a popular motif used by furniture makers in Chester County, PA at this time. The furniture maker, desiring to decorate his piece, would use a compass to scribe a series of inter-joined half circles. At the termination of these half-circles, he would carefully gouge out a group of berries. In some cases, this motif would become an all-over decoration. More skilled craftsmen might even inlay their berries with the light wood of the holly tree, or mix several types of wood together to enhance the beauty of the piece.
Source: Furniture and its Makers of Chester County, PA by Margaret Bernard Schiffer, 1966
