Framed Bed Canopy
Yellow pine and poplar
Hand Painted panels – Urn and vine floral motif
Lexington South Carolina
C. 1844
61″ x 85″
This rare tester (teaster) bed canopy has a history in Lexington, South Carolina where it was said to have been a wedding gift. The yellow pine frame is morticed and tenoned with holes at each corner to receive the bed’s tall corner posts. Five lapped painted poplar boards are joined horizontally and decorated with a full length floral garland and vine emanating from a large urn. The leaves, blossoms and vines depicting native species retain much of their original vivacious color and charm. That many talented itinerant decorative painters were busy in the interior regions of the South during the 19th century has long been acknowledged but research on their identities and surviving works has only recently begun to emerge. These artists produced creative interior murals, ceilings, fireboards and all manner of faux graining and stenciling of floors and woodwork. They also painted fancy furniture and decorated other furniture forms, most commonly blanket chests. Most was never recorded and much has been destroyed as building were razed, interiors painted over and furniture discarded. Although numerous advertisements in local newspapers and other sources provided rich evidence of the many ornamental, decorative and other artisans providing furnishings of all sorts, few are still known and fewer still can be linked to specific works. This bed canopy is rare survivor and a fine example of the skill and creativity of one of these anonymous artists.
