A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana - (Page 372)

Natchitoches, established in 1714 in Northwestern Louisiana to act as a buffer between the French colony and the Spanish in Texas, is the state’s oldest permanent European settlement. It is not surprising that the colonial furniture of Natchitoches exhibits French-Canadian characteristics brought by its initial settlers from Quebec. The very large armoire (left) is over eight feet tall and was probably used to store government documents or could have been used in a church sacristy to hold parish records, communion vessels, vestments, and altar linens. It is both more highly and deeply carved than the case pieces crafted in South Louisiana. The two vertical over one horizontal over two vertical panels of the sides come from provincial France through French Canada. The upper arched door panel along with the small central cartouche panel over a long rectangular cartouche panel per door reflect that same tradition. The iron hardware could have been made locally or imported from France. The armoire was doubtless made sometime between 1740 and 1770. The more self-reliant Acadians will continue to have local blacksmiths fashion wrought iron hardware for their case pieces until well into the nineteenth century. ARMOIRES Louisiana’s colonial period lasts through 1803, and there are numerous examples of armoires having doors sporting cartouche designs in their upper panels. These armoires along with many not having the cartouche panels are all raised on heavy cabriole legs. At the end of the colonial period there is a group of four—two only recently discovered—having simple inlay in the French provincial tradition rather than the delicate Anglo-American style of inlay. This group provides a transition between the colonial and Creole style case pieces. A walnut armoire with cypress secondary wood (opposite page, bottom) boasts an inlaid pinwheel in the center of its frieze along with six-pointed stars on either end of the frieze. One of this group of armoires bears a French inscription which translates, “made by A. Babin in 1802.” Recently two related pieces were discovered in old St. Gabriel families. This permits an attribution to that Iberville Parish town that was a thriving Mississippi River port during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Three of this group of armoires survive with their original brass fiche hinges. While in the French taste, this hardware was made by the great English brass foundries in Birmingham. Spawned by the Industrial Revolution begun by the British about 1770, all manner of inexpensive, well-made goods were produced to satisfy a worldwide clientele. The early nineteenth-century recessed panel armoire (opposite page, top) is one of the high moments of the Creole cabinetmaker’s art in New Orleans. Made of solid West Indian plum pudding mahogany and raised on delicate rococo cabriole Colonial Armoire in the Baroque Manner, ca. 1740-1770 Black walnut and cypress; 100 x 63 x 26 in. Holden Family Collection Photograph by Jim Zietz, courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection in Louisiana, their use in cabinetmaking awaited the arrival of the Anglo American beginning as early as the 1770s. A great example of a piece of furniture being “improved” by a later cabinetmaker acquainted with Anglo-American predelictions are the refrectory tables. The drawers cleverly run all the way through, thus allowing two nuns facing each other to share one drawer for their silverware and linens. The more thinly constructed poplar drawers with walnut fronts and mushroom pulls are indicative of early nineteenth-century construction. These new features were probably added at the third convent in the 1820s or 1830s. 372 CREOLE AND ACADIAN TRADITIONS OF EARLY LOUISIANA FURNITURE 

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