| 介绍（英） | In the early nineteenth century, designers and furniture makers embraced a revival of Classical prototypes from ancient Greek and Roman architecture and decorative arts. The sleek, curvaceous lines, and dramatic, figural rosewood veneers of this window seat characterize the distinct Grecian Plain style that emerged in the 1820s to 1840s during the revival period. This window seat is one of four from a large set of seating furniture used at Millford, a magnificent Greek Revival mansion built for John Laurence Manning (1816–1889) and Susan Hampton (1816–1845) on their Clarendon (now Sumter) County, South Carolina plantation in 1839–41. The four window seats were specially fitted for openings below large windows flanking the fireplaces in the grand double parlors of the first floor. Casters, concealed beneath the frame, enabled movement to aid in cleaning or entertaining. The upholstery on the window seat has been recreated based on original silk damask fabric fragments found behind the pierced, nine-lobed demilune motif on the front rail. Manning likely ordered the furniture from D. Phyfe & Son during an 1840 visit to New York. According to invoices and shipping records, between 1841 and 1842, D. Phyfe & Son supplied an astonishing quantity of rosewood, mahogany, and walnut furnishings for the parlors, dining room, entrance hall, and bedchambers of his new home. A pair of side chairs from Millford’s parlors (see 2013.22.1-.2) is also in the Museum’s collection.
The grandeur of Millford and elegance of its interiors and furnishings cannot be separated from Manning’s role as a plantation owner, enslaver, and politician in the Antebellum South. Manning served in the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate before becoming the state’s sixty-fifth governor from 1852–54. In addition to his landholdings in South Carolina, through his marriage, Manning came to own sizeable sugar plantations in Louisiana on which he enslaved over 600 people, according to the 1860 U. S. Federal Census. Manning profited immensely from the unpaid labor of these individuals, which in turn enabled him to embark on such an ambitious building campaign. Once constructed, house’s ornate interiors and the estate grounds and farm were maintained by the approximately thirty people Manning held in bondage at Millford.
Millford is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark. It is currently owned by the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. |