The Cabinetmaker and the Carver: Boston Furniture from Private Collections

For centuries Boston has been one of the most important furniture-making centers in America. Soon after the town’s founding in 1630, Boston’s joiners and turners were the first craftsmen to make furniture in British North America, and the city’s cabinetmakers contributed to the art and craft of furniture making throughout the elegant colonial and federal periods. Its factories and designers have also been a source of fine furniture, creating major pieces in the various revival styles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Massachusetts Historical Society, The Cabinetmaker and the Carver showcases rare and exemplary pieces from private collections, illustrating three centuries of Boston history through carefully selected examples of furniture that represent the trajectory of this great tradition.