In 1816 there was launched in Salem the yacht called Cleopatra’s Barge, built and owned by Capt. George Crowninshield, who had been a partner with his brothers in the East India trade and had lived from a boy upon his father’s ships. Finally retiring from business, he built this splendid yacht with the intention of spending years in travel, but he died after the first long voyage to the Mediterranean. The yacht was the wonder of the day and was visited by thousands, not alone in Salem but in every foreign port.
Illus. 222.—Empire Settee, 1816.
She was furnished with great magnificence, in the Empire style, the woods used in the saloon being mahogany and bird’s-eye maple, and the two settees in the saloon were each eleven feet in length. One is shown in Illustration [222], now owned by Frederic B. Crowninshield, Esq., of Marblehead. The backs are lyre-shaped, and when new the seats were covered with crimson velvet and edged with wide gold lace. The hook upon the back leg was probably to hold the settee to the wall in bad weather.
Illustration [223] shows the influence of the fashion for heavier and more elaborate frames, which came in with the nineteenth century. The arms are made after the Sheraton type shown in Illustration [217] and Illustration [218], but where a simple pillar was employed before, this settee has a carved pineapple forming the support to the arm, which ends in a scroll. Instead of four front legs either plain or fluted, there are two of larger size carved with the same leaves which sheathe the pineapple. The covering is horsehair, which was probably the original cover. This settee now belongs to the Concord Antiquarian Society, and was owned by Dr. Ezra Ripley, who was minister of the old Congregational Church of Concord from 1777 to 1840, and who lived in the Old Manse, afterward occupied by Hawthorne. The settee remained in the manse until comparatively recent years.
Illus. 223.—Sheraton Settee, 1800-1805.
The sofa in Illustration [224] belongs to the Misses Hosmer of Concord, and stands in their old house, filled with the furniture of generations past, and interesting with memories of the Concord philosophers. The lines of this sofa are extremely elegant and graceful, and its effect quite classic. The legs are what is known as the Adam leg, which was designed by the Adam brothers, and which Sheraton used frequently. The style of the sofa is that of the Adam brothers, and it was probably made from their designs about 1800-1810. The writer has seen a window seat which belonged to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, after exactly this design, without the back.
Illus. 225.—Sofa in Adam Style, 1800-1810.