EARLY SEATING Upholstery-Reading the Evidence

After decades of ignoring or discarding historic upholstery, collectors and museums are now giving it the respect that it deserves. That's in large part due to the groundbreaking contributions made by Colonial Williamsburg conservator Leroy Graves. Little upholstery from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries has survived in America as rooms were redecorated or fabrics wore out or went out of fashion. Indeed, by the twentieth century, the upholstering processes were themselves largely lost. Graves shows how to "read the evidence" on existing upholstery and furniture frames and in period images and documentation, and is the process he illuminates the aesthetics and methods of early upholsterers. In Early Seating Upholstery, Graves examines the structure and components of furniture frames and upholstery materials, chronicles the evolution of upholstery fashions and techniques, and presents detailed case studies of side chairs, back stools, armchairs, easy chairs, settees, sofas, and couches. Graves also illustrates his pioneering method of conservation, describing step-by-step the treatments of a bare frame of a side chair and an easy chair with surviving foundation upholstery and show material.