Commode

Object Name:

Commode

Object ID:

1957.065.02.07

Place of Origin:

Hampton, NH

Date:

1730-1750

Description:

Commode, or Close Stool. Wood (probably pine), painted red. Mortise and tenon construction. Lid attached to box with wrought iron hinges with both hand wrought nails and iron screws. Lid has bread board ends pegged together. Cove molding was added to the bread board ends and is beveled both front and back. Box has two carved wooden handles on sides. Semicircular skirt on each side. Has cabriole legs with pad fee. Three of the four feet have broken edges. Piece of small white tape with illegible red writing inside box. Lid opens to reveal a pine plank/seat with a beveled hole in the center. The seat lifts out. Seat is cracked in half and has wooden braces screwed in as support. Under the seat is a platform to hold the plank, and missing chamber pot, in place. Handwritten in script on platform is "Boston Plate" (replacement; likely part of a packing crate). Two wooden supports were added under the platform. Evidence of previous platform that was pegged in and ran the entire width.

Material:

Wood
Pine
Iron

Dimensions:

H-18.75 W-19.375 D-16.75 inches

Provenance:

From the Prentis Murphy Collection. This piece associated with Hampton, NH.

Credit Line:

Gift of Katharine Prentis Murphy and Edmund Astley Prentis Jr., in Memory of David Edward Murphy

People:

Murphy, Katharine Prentis (1882-1967), Prentis, Edmund Astley, Jr. (1883-1967), Murphy, David E. (1859-1919)