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Shaker furniture
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Shaker chest of drawers Shaker side chair
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Shaker chest of drawers
Shaker chest of drawers Yellow-painted or yellow-washed mixed wood chest of drawers, by a cabinet maker working in the Shaker village of Mount Lebanon, New York, c. 1840; in the Shaker Museum, Mount Lebanon, New York.

Shaker furniture

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History

Shaker furniture, furniture designed for and by the religious colonies of Shakers founded in America in the last quarter of the 18th century. Designs are characterized by an austerity of decoration and truth to materials. Deeply dedicated to ideals of communal living and asceticism, the Shakers designed and constructed furniture that reflected their belief that to make a thing well was in itself an act of prayer and their conviction that the appearance of a thing should follow upon its function. Each item was fashioned solely to serve its intended use, and most superfluous decorations, such as inlays and moldings, were eliminated.

Shaker side chair
Shaker side chairSide chair painted yellow with checkerboard-patterned tape seat, by a cabinet maker working in the Shaker village of Mount Lebanon, New York, c. 1840–60; in the Shaker Museum, Mount Lebanon, New York.

Although the Shakers’ attitude toward design was based on religious beliefs, it anticipated in a remarkable way concepts of functionalism that became common in the early 20th century. The austere Shaker chair, for example, was designed to be both sturdy and lightweight, so that it could be hung on wall pegs while a room was being cleaned or during religious services to provide a large unimpeded interior space. Working in a uniquely American idiom, Shaker craftspeople often worked in pine or other inexpensive local wood to produce domestic furniture that was marked by originality of design no less than by severity of appearance.

The Shaker movement declined during the second half of the 19th century, and many of the colonies were dissolved. In the early 20th century there was a marked revival of interest in Shaker furniture, outstanding examples of which are to be seen in the Shaker Museum, Mount Lebanon, New York; Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, Massachusetts; and in the South Union Shaker Village, Auburn, Kentucky.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Alicja Zelazko.