Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society Vol.

LVI

A Glimpse into Our Heritage. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Eastern Caribbean Furniture: Its Background, History and Heritage.
Linda Bowen

he Eastern Caribbean islands are a great repository of Antique Furniture. There is a growing interest in the Caribbean and elsewhere in our heritage and its preservation. Furniture is one of the items which needs to be preserved, not just in the sense of its restoration, but in its story. What can furniture tell future generations about their ancestors? It can give valuable information about our history, lifestyle, wealth or lack of it; skills available in the society during the time period under study; information about trade and occupations. There is a mine of information about West Indian furniture and its creators, hidden in several far-flung areas. For example in wills and deeds, ships manifests, marriage, birth and baptism records, actual physical furniture which has survived intact or even in pieces from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; estate log books and records which tell the number of carpenters and joiners employed on the sugar estates, details of their work; items imported for use on the estates, merchants records. The list is endless. It is the knowledge that the list is endless that is encouraging research into the origins, existence, style and workmanship of eighteenth and nineteenth century Eastern Caribbean furniture and the material culture surrounding it. The term Eastern Caribbean furniture in this article refers to furniture imported into the Eastern Caribbean during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as furniture made in the Eastern Caribbean during this period. The entire Eastern Caribbean has not been investigated in this article. It is mainly Barbados as an example of an English island, Martinique and Guadeloupe as examples of French islands and

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St. Lucia as an example of a mixture of French and English techniques and furniture styles which have been investigated. In what types of households would one expect antique furniture to be found? The very wealthy, the middle class, the labouring masses, the very poor or, in ALL of the aforementioned? The answer is in ALL the aforementioned. There are examples of antique furniture in several types of households throughout the Caribbean. West Indian furniture is unique and cannot be easily classified in the way that antique furniture from other countries can. This is because it is such a marriage of styles and ethnic influences. The furniture within the Caribbean has also been influenced by crosscultural factors; some furniture can be identified as having a strictly British influence, some strictly French, some Dutch and some Spanish. Other furniture may be a combination of two, three or even four nationalities. In addition, West Indian furniture has a definite African influence in terms of the motifs used as decoration, either carved directly into the wood as an Intaglio or a design in relief, superimposed on to the wood. What are these distinctive West Indian styles? What makes West Indian furniture so distinctive from European and American antique furniture of the same period? Is this difference real or perceived? If real, how real and can it be easily identified. Local West Indian craftsmen did duplicate many European and

The Pink House St. Lucia. An upper middle class home filled with many examples of Eighteenth and Nineteenth century antique furniture. Original photograph courtesy Linda Bowen 2003

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Indian Pond House St. Joseph, Barbados. A Barbados plantation house which would have been occupied by a wealthy planter family. This would have housed many fine examples of eighteenth and nineteenth century antique furniture. Photograph courtesy Linda Bowen 2003

Tyrol Cot, St. Michael, Barbados. This would have housed several examples of fine antique furniture.

North American furniture pieces, but during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially the nineteenth century, artisans in the Eastern Caribbean incorporated their own styles into furniture making and West Indian furniture began to take on a distinctive style using motifs influenced by African designs. This was not unexpected since most of the skilled craftsmen in the West Indies during this period were either enslaved Africans or their freed descendants. Some furniture historians such as Connell, think that most if not

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all eighteenth century furniture in the West Indies was originally imported. They believe that only the simplest tables, chairs and stools were made locally to supply the enslaved population and some poor whites living in the island at this time. The main reason given for the small quantity of furniture produced in the West Indies during this period was because of the large quantity that was imported into the region at this time. This was not so however, especially in the case of Barbados with its large white population. One should also include Martinique as an island with a large local output of furniture. There were dozens of skilled joiners and cabinet makers of English origin who plied their trade on Barbados in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. For example, in the twenty year period between 1681-1700, ten men, identified in their wills as joiners, died. Ten deaths from a trade in such a short period of time is a good indicator that the total number of joiners in Barbados was high. They were distributed as follows: St. Lucy - 2, St John - 1, St. Thomas - 1, St. James 1, St. Michael - 5. The higher number for St. Michael reflects the presence of a large number of consumers in Bridgetown with consequent demand for furniture. These individuals thought highly enough of their trade to identify themselves as joiners. That they also had disposable income and other property is indicated by the fact that they left wills. More than one individual passed on the trade to their sons. For example, Thomas Ostherhan of St. Michael left all my working tools to his son Thomas (Department of Archives RB 4/18, p.69 4th July 1705). In the earlier period, before the introduction of the mahogany (Sweitenia mahagoni) tree to the island in 1763 craftmen used other local woods in addition to the imported pine, cherrywood and mahogany. Three such favourites were the manchineel (Hippomane mancinella), cedar (Cedrela odorata) and cordia (Cordia alliodora). In 1711, Elisha Holder bequeathed my manshioneele press to her sister. there is also mention of her book press. After the Napoleonic wars of 1815 there was a decline in the importation of furniture from Europe to the West Indies as a result of the onset of Free Trade, the emancipation of the enslaved in the British West Indies and the subsequent decline in the fortunes of sugar and hence the decline of the Planter class who could therefore no longer afford the lavish lifestyles of yore. The production of locally made West Indian furniture increased also because, after Emancipation, the former enslaved artisans were eager to sell their skills in carpentry, woodwork and joinery rather

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than continue working on the plantations to which they had been bound. These skilled artisans gravitated towards the towns in the Caribbean and thereafter produced furniture which was unique in style and ornamentation. Nicholas Forde of Barbados, an avid collector of antique furniture and author of an article on the material culture of Barbados which appeared in a previous Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, quotes from the work of Dr. Karl Watson mentioning that artisans were employed by three particular firms in Barbados during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These firms were some such as Thompson and Rowlandson and John and Abraham Harris. They operated in Bridgetown near the area of what was St. Michaels Parish Church which was the centre of the local cabinet making industry and also home to well known carpenters and joiners of the day like Philip Hackett and James Griffith. Barbadian and other West Indian Artisans were exposed to skilled artisans from elsewhere which increased their pool of design ideas and also improved the quality of their work. For example, Richard Gillow, the son of the famous Robert Gillow of Lancashire England, came to Barbados to act as his father's representative in the Island. While in the island he came into contact with and influenced many local artisans. Foreign craftsmen from other parts of Europe also went to England to train as apprentices as well as to impart some of their own skills in furniture making. This probably explains why there were similarities in eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture throughout Europe as well as similarities in furniture in the French and British West Indies. In addition, furniture designers both in Europe and the West Indies worked for moneyed and aristocratic people who often influenced their style of work. It is not necessarily true that all eighteenth century furniture in the West Indies was imported. Advertisements in West Indian newspapers of the day indicate that the Caribbean Islands had a thriving indigenous furniture trade during this period, exporting good quality furniture to Europe and America. It is true however that planters in the West Indies who had relatives living in English mansions or French Chateaux did import European and North American furniture for their West Indian great houses: Queen Anne, Georgian, Regency, Louis XIV, Rococo and Chippendale were some of the styles in vogue during this period which made their way through trade to the Eastern Caribbean. Furniture was bought or imported to suit the needs and desires of

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the households who required it; for example, ladies work tables were much in demand for planters ladies who spent time doing embroidery or other skilled needlework as a leisure activity. Worktables were introduced to the West Indies in the late Eighteenth century. They were fairly small, fitted with a silk bag and compartments for needles, cotton and so on. These worktables with pedestal supports and turned fluted legs [for example the one displayed in the Barbados Museum] are typical of the early nineteenth century. One of the main differences between imported eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture and locally produced or indigenous West Indian furniture of the same period, was the fact that much local Ladies Work Table. Early Nineteenth furniture was completely Century. (Collection of Barbados Museum) handcrafted by free blacks and mulattoes who did not have access to machines. European furniture of this period was often mass-produced using machinery which had been developed as a result of the Industrial Revolution of the 1750's. Furniture historians also claim that the construction of imported furniture was inferior to that made in the West Indies. Imported furniture often had faults hidden beneath veneering and applied decoration. There was little real carving in these pieces which were characterized by scrolled legs and feet, flat surfaces and straight columns. The local or indigenous furniture of the West Indies during the same period was characterised by dovetailing, joining and turning as well as in the use of West Indian fauna as decoration. For example, pediments using hibiscus or sandbox flowers and carved acanthus leaves instead of the European scrolled pediment with carved filials. The West Indian craftsmen also had the unique practice of using mahogany [West Indian mahogany or swietenia] as the joiners wood of choice. They used it as both primary and secondary woods

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in furniture construction. The European joiners of the same period did not have this practice. The preference for mahogany was not only because of its texture and beautiful colour but also because it is resistant to termites and general decay. Furniture made from mahogany can and does last for hundreds of years in pristine condition. Unfortunately, according to Neville Connell who has done valuable research on seventeenth and eighteenth century Barbadian furniture, very little eighteenth century furniture prior to 1780 exists in the West Indies. This is not because the furniture was inferior and consequently did not last, but rather because it has been sold over the years to wealthy collectors in Europe and North America. Connell also believed from evidence found in his research, that wealthy Barbadians of the nineteenth century preferred imported
West Indian Nineteenth Century Mahogany bed posts. These are beautifully scrolled and turned, also exhibiting a Tulip design and Acanthus leaf designs. Photograph courtesy Linda Bowen 2003

Tub chair, mahogany with cordia inlay, ball and claw feet, Barbadian c1840. (Private collection)

Berbice Chair, mahogany c1880. (Private collection)

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furniture to that which was locally made, since to own imported furniture was seen as a status symbol. Other well-off but less wealthy West Indians commissioned locally produced furniture from joiners in the West Indies. Edward Lucie-Smith, Jamaican born and educated at Oxford University emphasizes the ownership of furniture as a status symbol. Lucie-Smith argues that furniture indicates lifestyle. Some Large Nineteenth Century Sideboard cultures do well without permanent furniture or with very little permanent furniture, but for other cultures because furniture is generally bulky and cannot be easily moved around, it suggests a settled existence and therefore development or progress of society. Lucie-Smith also suggests that furniture and architecture go together in a type of marriage. Certain types of architecture require a particular type of furniture or a certain standard of furniture. It would Chest of drawers, cedar, early 18th c. perhaps be difficult and out of Rare Barbadian piece. (Coll. BMHS) place to have a large, looming nineteenth century sideboard in the front house or shed roof of a Barbadian chattel house. There are chattel houses in the West Indies which housed some types of eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture. Most chattel and middle class residences would have contained a wagon, a commode or an armoire. As new styles of furniture became available those who could afford it often got rid of what they owned and bought the newer styles. In many cases the cast off furniture was given to the servants or those below stairs, either to use in the kitchen or pantry of the Great House or, to use in their own homes. In this way poorer households often acquired good quality antique furniture.

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Lucie-Smith also suggests that possession of good furniture implies a lifestyle above the subsistence level. This indicates that people attach a great deal of importance to furniture in terms of its ownership and value. For many people, furniture has aesthetic, emotional, sentimental and monetary value. Hence the importance of bequeathing furniture to family members and friends through wills. Furniture is functional, an indicator of status and the production of it was considered an art, a skill, a craft, eighteenth and nineteenth century joiners and cabinet makers were artisans and craftsmen, not just carpenters. Before 1838 enslaved people in the West Indies who built furniture were called artisan slaves and were held in much higher esteem than those who worked in the canefields. Lucie-Smith also points out that furniture tells a great deal about the lives of the people who owned it. Was the furniture used for recreation and leisure i.e. a Barbadian Chattel House backgammon table, billiard table card table or a ladies work table? Was a mahogany dining table that was built to seat twenty or twenty four persons used regularly in families who entertained lavishly? A dining table such as this, indicated that the owner was wealthy

Nineteenth century mahogany dining table, made to seat either twelve or twenty four people. Leaves would be inserted or taken out to suit the number of diners.

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enough to entertain important personages on a lavish scale. Diaries, letters, accounts, wills and descriptions of households often gave valuable information about furniture and how it was esteemed by the families who owned it. Apart however from the evident skill of the master craftsmen who made it, furniture tells us little about the people who made it. European furniture craftsmen often made pieces for several firms, and for designers like Chippendale, Sheraton Gillow. West Indian craftsmen also did repair work for these firms or for people who had bought furniture from these firms and would often incorporate some of their own style into the repair work. For example a Chippendale chair might contain features West Indian carpenters tools used by joiners which were not purely in Martinique. (Photograph courtesy of Chippendale. Darmezin de Garlande and Joseph Poupon, In the late nineteenth Martinique). century joiners were

Side chair, turned, reeded legs, mahogany, early 19th c. Barbadian (Coll. BMHS)

Washstand, mahogany, 19th c. Barbadian (Coll. BMHS)

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19th Century mahogany dining chair. Notice fluted insert panel. Joins are pegged indicating age possible date 1840s, Barbados.

considered superior to carpenters since their skills were specific. Their tools were varied, they had to have a clear understanding of mathematics, had to learn the names and uses of a myriad of tools and had to learn the art of polishing furniture so that the patina was seen at its best. They also had to learn the art of caning since most double and single ended couches made and used in the West Indies were caned. So were the dining chairs. Caned chairs were cooler to sit on than were stuffed or upholstered furniture and were therefore more suited

to the tropics. As a result of their specific skills and importance in society through their service to the upper and middle classes, joiners of the eighteenth and nineteen centuries, whether in Barbados, Martinique, St. Lucia or Guadeloupe were able to carve a respectable niche for themselves in society. They were in a privileged position, earning a good living, being independent and contributing to the heritage of Barbados and the other West Indian islands. Andrew Brewster, a former student of The University of The West Indies, Cave Hill Campus researched the topic Artisans in Barbados in the late nineteenth century Brewsters research found that there were two hundred and fifty-seven cabinet makers and joiners in Barbados in 1881. It is obvious from the number quoted that furniture production in Barbados at this time was flourishing. The French West Indian islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe are, like the former British Caribbean islands, a haven for
Photograph of bed posts made from Coubaril wood, used in Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Lucia.

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eighteenth and nineteenth West Indian furniture. The company of The Isles of America which was the French company responsible for the administration of French colonies for France gave financial aid and privileges to carpenters and wood-workers to travel from Europe to the New World. This was the beginning of local furniture production on French console table St. Lucia the French islands. British and French islands at this time as well as islands like St Lucia which changed ownership between the British and French fourteen times, were phenomenally wealthy as a result of the production of sugar in the eighteenth century. This phenomenal wealth was translated into opulence and extravagance in the homes Table, turned legs with cross stretchers, and furnishings of the 17th century, possibly West Indian. planters both in the West (Coll. BMHS) Indies and in their palatial mansions and chateaux in England and France. The French ebenistenie or cabinet makers like their English counterparts used a great deal of mahogany or acajou in their furniture production during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The French also used woods like coubaril, pele, gaiac, laurier rose, mancen and illier which the English islands did not use on a large scale. French West Indian furniture researchers like Francoise Darmezin de Garlande and Joseph Poupon claim that although aspects of French West Indian furniture may have been influenced by various French European styles e.g. Second Empire or even by styles from England, most of the French West Indian furniture can be described as Interpretation Martiniquaise, which uses French creole motifs especially the sandbox motif on their armoires. These armoires

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St Lucian Four-Poster bed of French Antillean Origin. Note the elegantly turned Posts.

Four-poster bed elaborately carved using motifs of West Indian flora the popular acanthus leaf. 19th century mahogany Barbados.

Mahogany stair newel St. Lucia. The top is characteristic of French Antillean 19th Century furniture.

were different to those in Europe, being characterized by recessed door panels, double or triple-headed moulded frames, curvilinear door frames, scalloped skirts and short cabriole legs. Four-poster beds were also produced in large numbers in the British and French West Indies as were consoles, recamiers or meridiennes. [settees or couches] Furniture production in Guadeloupe during the eighteenth century was influenced by the Dutch, [particularly Dutch East Indian influence] English, American and the Swedes. Nicholas Forde in his article Aspects of the Material Culture of Barbados of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries has examined some of the rare surviving ships manifests of the eighteenth century. The ships manifests record some of the furniture imported into the island during this period, some of which was influenced by the Dutch. These included escritoires, couches, cabinets and dressing boxes. Mr Forde suggests that many of these items

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were copied by local artisans, many of whom were skilled, enslaved people. It is thought that a similar occurrence would have happened in the French West Indian islands. So, what is West Indian furniture? How can a study of furniture give us information about the lives and lifestyles of the people who lived in the period during which the furniture was made and used? Much furniture grew out of a way of life, a necessity. Sometimes an extravagant necessity. For example: (1) Sideboards which were not in regular use until the rich, opulent lifestyle of the mid to late eighteenth century, the heyday of wealth in Europe and the West Indies. (2) Work tables which came into being for the use of upper class and middle upper class women who saw embroidery as an honorable past time, a skill which they used in order to avoid boredom in a society when women of these classes did neither housework nor paid work. Was West Indian furniture bought and used mainly for its utility or was it for its aesthic, emotional, sentimental, artistic and monetary value? All of the above translate into giving information about those who made or created furniture and those who bought it and used it. Did eighteenth and nineteenth century consumers think about and value the furniture which they bought, in the same way that people in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries value the eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture? Is the antique furniture of more value now since: (a) It is old. In some cases over three hundred years old. (b) Although it can be reproduced up to a point, the original is scarce and therefore priceless. (c) Is the artistic skill and technology which produced eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture still available? (d) Do modern artisans, crafts persons and joiners still want to make eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture, bearing in mind that the methods and techniques used to produce such were time consuming, but unique.

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(e) Are the woods used to craft this antique furniture still readily available? Much of our West Indian flora has been replaced by Concrete Jungles. There has been little reforestation and replanting of primary woods like mahogany which was used to produce the exquisite eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture. We need to preserve our heritage as it relates to furniture for another reason. Most of the artisans in the West Indies who physically produced eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture were from the lower classes. Quite a few who owned this lovely furniture were also from the lower classes or the lower middle class. What do we really know of their skill in producing and their ownership of antique furniture? Very little. Why? The privileged few wrote about themselves and seldom about the less privileged who either could not or did not write. It is important then for us as Barbadians and West Indians to preserve our eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture and furnishings as a part of our heritage. By so doing we will preserve the artistic and creative heritage of our forefathers and will retain the fame and beauty of West Indian furniture which in recent years has spread beyond the shores of the islands on which it flourished. It is especially important for us to preserve our furniture heritage since during the twentieth century, large quantities of Barbadian mahogany furniture were bought by Martiniquans, who had the financial means and the knowledge about our unique West Indian heritage to do so. Consequently, some Barbadian eighteenth and nineteenth century antique furniture has been classified by furniture enthusiasts and furniture historians as being of French West Indian origin, when this is incorrect.
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