Built-ins & Bookcases · Shaker
Shaker Built-In Cupboard (Index of American Design, 1937)
A 1937 watercolor rendering by Sumner Merrill for the Index of American Design, recording a Shaker built-in cupboard beside a door, with panelled doors set flush into the wall.
Design characteristics
The Index of American Design was a Depression-era project that employed artists to record American decorative arts in precise watercolors. This rendering shows a Shaker cupboard built into the wall next to a doorway, with stacked panelled doors and trim that matches the door casing. It is a clear template for using the space beside a door or in a wall recess for storage that looks original to the house.
Classification
- Style
- Shaker
- Category
- Built-ins & Bookcases
- Material
- Pine
- Motifs
- Built in cupboard, Raised panel
- Photograph
- 1937
- Photographer
- Sumner Merrill
- Evidence
- Index of American Design rendering
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons
Architectural context
Plain panels, peg rails and built-in storage made with exacting care. Shaker communities, United States · c. 1780–1900.
