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Authority on Philadelphia colonial furniture to
speak on Oct. 22
By Maureen McKew
On Wednesday, Oct. 22, the Department of History will
sponsor a lecture on “Scucheons and Inges: Artisan Workshops in
Colonial Philadelphia" by Jay Robert Stiefel, an expert on early
American furniture and decorative arts. Stiefel specifically will address
the significance of the oldest account book known to have survived from
the colonial period. The lecture will take place from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.
in Viewing Room 3 of Falvey Memorial Library. Admission is free and open
to the public.
Stiefel is an authority on Philadelphia artisans. He is the author of
Philadelphia Cabinetmaking and Commerce, 1718-1753: The Account Book of
John Head, Joiner" a chronicle of the daily activities of a previously
unrecognized cabinetmaker's shop in Philadelphia. The book is essential
reading for anyone interested in Philadelphia furniture and the commerce
of that city.
Stiefel was trained as an historian at the University of Pennsylvania
and at Christ Church College of the University of Oxford in England. He
also holds a master’s degree international relations from the University
of Pennsylvania and remains of counsel to the Philadelphia law firm, Berger
& Montague, P.C.
A collector of Philadelphia furniture, he has in recent years found time
to return to his academic roots. As an expert on the decorative arts of
Philadelphia’s colonial period, he is a frequent lecturer at Winterthur
and other American venues, as well as at universities and furniture societies
in the United Kingdom. Stiefel’s recent article about the Philadelphia
pewterer Simon Edgell, published in The Bulletin of the Pewter Collectors
Club of America, was hailed by its editor as the finest article on an
American pewterer in the history of the publication. A popular version
of the article appeared this past spring in The Catalogue of Antiques
and Fine Art.
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