Low-post bedstead

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Status

On view

Date1830-1930

Geography Possibly made - United StatesMade - United States

Medium/TechniqueTulip poplar (posts and headboard), yellow pine (rails), paint

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 33 5/8 in. x 49 1/4 in. x 72 1/2 in. (85.41 cm x 125.1 cm x 184.15 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, 1968

Object numberM-2505

DescriptionRed-painted, low-post bedstead with flat-top, hollow-corner head- and footboards (the headboard higher), cylinder-block-and-cylinder-turned head- and footposts with ball finials and single-swell turned legs with flattened-ball-and-tapered-cylindrical feet, and pegged rails. The head- and footboards are tenoned into the posts and single-pegged. The rectangular rails, which are higher than they are wide, are ogee-molded on their top outside edge and beaded along their bottom outside edge. Their tops slope inward and are fitted with pegs for a roped or sacking bottom. The side rails are tenoned into the posts and secured with iron bed bolts; small, almost square filled mortises or wedges are visible on their inside ends. The head and foot rails are tenoned into the posts and single-pegged.

Long, filled mortises on the inside of the headposts suggest that additional side panels or pillow guards may have once been attached there.

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