King Caesar West Chamber Textiles Project

By Bob Hale

Spring 2007

When walls need repainting in a historic house, decisions about color and texture are based on scrapings that tell us what was put on those walls in layers that go back to their construction.  When a bedroom needs new hangings for the bed and the windows, there are no scrapings, no layers for reference.  Research has to be based on what is known of period, place and circumstance.  Penny Kriegel, chairman of the Textile Committee, spent three years conducting just this kind of research when it was decided King Caesar’s bedroom needed a drastic overhaul.

In 1965, Frances Fogg led the team that restored King Caesar House to its original state when the property was acquired by Duxbury Rural & Historical Society. Based on her knowledge of period, she put in that bedroom a magnificent set of antique French toile bed and window furnishings.  After forty years, bright light reflecting off the bay turned the fragile fabric to tatters, and changed their original rich aubergine color to dark brown.  The toile was taken down and put in storage.

The West Chamber looked rather naked the next few years while long discussions were held on what the replacements should be.  Finally, a period accurate fabric was chosen, patterns were cut and a group of volunteers set to work sewing.  After much time and effort the glazed chintz hangings went up, and it became apparent that, though historically correct they were aesthetically wrong.  The fabric looks fine across the hall in the East Chamber, however, and they are being adapted to hang there.

And so, the process began again.  George Fogg became involved at this point and searched exhaustively for a toile that would come close to replicating the antique hangings that had been in the room.  As the world has come to rely more and more on computerized technology, many fabrics produced by “old fashioned” methods are no longer available.  George found toiles, but the quality did not meet his, or our, standards.

Meanwhile, in her far ranging search, Penny Kriegel was making contacts with conservators and making presentations to the Collections Committee.  Natalie F. Larson of Historic Textile Reproductions in Williamsburg, VA was chosen to undertake the project.  Mrs. Larson is currently working on hangings for Mount Vernon and Monticello.  After much discussion, we choose to represent the room as Jerusha Weston might have kept it year round.  Winter hangings were selected, however, with a nod to the heat of July and August when most visitors see the house, we omitted the foot curtains to fit the warmer seasons as well.

The fabric chosen is unglazed documented chintz in soft shades of green, gold, rust and red.  The project is now competed and should impress upon visitors that Ezra and Jerusha Weston had a beautiful home as well as a great fleet of ships.

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