Settle (no. 213) [with inlays]

1903-1908 (probably)

The United Crafts

The Craftsman Workshops

This drawing appears to be the inlaid variation of Settle (no. 213), which pushes the design of that model forward to 1903. David Cathers, Gustav Stickley (London and New York: Phaidon, 2003), 94 illustrates an inlaid settle by H. M. Baillie Scott that Stickley say at the London Exhibition of Arts and Crafts, which served as a model for this form. See also: “Housekeeping in Miniature,” The Craftsman 4 (June 1903):195 for a line drawing of this form with different birds on each of the slats. While the effect is quite different than the subsequent inlay that was produced, these seem to point to the development of the idea over time. Interestingly, it was Stickley who first saw the form, LaMont Warner who drew a version of the settle in June of 1903, Claude Bragdon’s article in September 1903 that introduced a number of additional inlaid forms manufactured, and a rendering from “What May Be Done With an Ordinary Room,” The Craftsman 5 (November 1903): 168, probably by Harvey Ellis, which depicts the final iteration of this settle. In that Stickley, Warner, Bragdon, and Ellis each contributed to the evolution of this piece, it suggests that the process of design was a collaborative conversation that cannot be solely attributed to a single designer.

The production of Stickley’s inlaid furniture is not well understood at this point, and if the starting date is relatively certain, the terminal date should be treated with caution. Evidence suggests that Stickley continued using inlay after 1907, as a number of forms (like the bedroom suite for his daughters at The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms and a related dresser at LACMA) are later versions of Dresser (no. 913) that have a solid panel announced in the Descriptive Price List of Craftsman Furniture. An undated photograph in David Cathers, Gustav Stickley (London and New York: Phaidon, 2003), 102-3, shows a dining room at McCreery’s in Pittsburgh full of inlaid furniture, but the precise date is unknown. Extant inventories that have not yet been transcribed or additional information may shed further light on the topic that enables us to date these items with more certainty.

213

“What May Be Done With an Ordinary Room,” The Craftsman 5 (November 1903): 168.