I love this painting by Matthew Pratt, maybe because he gives the furniture as much attention as the sitter.

Philtre Perfume available at Antick

mushroom pastries (pasties?)

I'm a vegetarian, but I have to admit to having a fascination with meat pies and pasties (is that really the word? Doesn't that have another, less-appetizing meaning?). I think it might be because I'm also a huge fan of Dickens. What's that you say? He's ridiculously sappy? I would reply that you haven't actually read any Dickens, because he's actually very dark, extremely humorous and a wonderful political satirist. But I'm constantly trying to develop vegetarian recipes for what-would-be-traditionally-meat pies. I made these today. Mushrooms, thyme, white wine, pine nuts, shallots...

On the second picture you will see a beautiful plate hand-made by Julia Smith and available at....Antick!!


For the full recipe leave a comment, and all will be revealed.

Squids!!

These are the Squids from Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiousities that inspired our velvet squids. As you can tell from the name of our blog, we like this book!

new Antick animals

Squids and elephants and rabbits, oh my. We have new beasties at Antick. Squids of every color, foxes, monsters, frogs, and many more. All made of wool felt or velvet, stuffed with 100% cotton, and festooned with glass bead eyes.

milk-painted claw-foot bed

Here's the bed with a futon on it. We recommend that you try White Lotus Futon. White Lotus is a small business with skilled and creative artisans. They sell all-natural 100% cotton futons--they even carry organic futons.

custom cabinetry and built-ins

Antick now offers period-inspired cabinetry designed and built by master-craftsman David Wilson. Our built-ins are crafted and finished by hand with a furniture maker's attention to detail and durability, and are designed to complement the style and period of your home. Enhance your home with cabinets, mantles, wainscoting, paneled walls, book shelves window seats or corner cabinets, and choose from the style that best fits the character of your home-high-style, country, rustic.

Beds!!

Winter is coming on, so we here at Antick are preparing ourselves for hibernation, and making the strongest most comfortable beds imaginable. We'll make them out of the wood of your choice--walnut, cherry, tiger maple. Or pick any of the many beautiful shades of milk paint available. We also make tall post beds and pencil post beds. All beds are made with our usual delight in the congruence of beauty and functionality, and are made to last for generations.

Antick on Fox News

There's a small glimpse of Antick on Fox News NY's show half-a-tank of gas--a segment of good day that highlights places you can get to from NYC on only half a tank of gas. Lambertville is one of them.

2008 NJ History Fair

For more information.

David's vision of Shad Fest

Shad Fest in Lambertville

This weekend is shad fest in Lambertville. We'll be open all weekend, so if you're in town, please stop by.

Glassware and Pottery at Antick

The manufacture of glass was one of the earliest American trades. Techniques of the 17th century are still practiced in Williamsburg, Virginia by master glassblowers John Pierce and David Byerly. Their beautiful, hand-blown pieces reflect their combined 40+ years of experience in working with glass, as well as their knowledge of old glassware.



Julia Smith has been making historical reproduction pottery since 1983. Acclaimed by working archaeologists, museum professionals, and living historians alike, her work is displayed, offered for sale, and used at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Plimoth Plantation; Jamestown; Colonial Deerfield; Saint Marie's City; and many other sites, as well as in the homes and personal kits of reenactors across the country.


Extensive research precedes the creation of every piece and all are based on specific originals; dimensions, cross-section, clay body, construction, and finishing treatments all follow those of the prototype. The single exception to this policy is in the area of glazes; all glazes used are lead-free, allowing the pieces to be used for food storage and service. Great care has been taken, however, to achieve as close a match as possible to the effect of the original glaze.

"The griffin, a modern hieroglyphic, signifying strength and swiftness, united in the two noble forms of the lion and eagle, is a grand object. So the antique centaur hath a savage greatness as well  as beauty.

    These may be said to be monsters, it's true, but then they convey such noble ideas, and have such elegance in their forms as greatly compensates for their being unnaturally join'd together.

     I shall mention but one more instance of this sort, and that the most extraordinary of all, which is an infant's head of about two years old, with a pair of duck's-wings placed under its chin, supposed always to be flying about, and singing psalms.

     A painters representation of heaven would be nothing without swarms of these little inconsistent objects, flying about, or perching on the clouds; and yet there is something so agreeable in their form, that the eye is reconciled and overlooks the absurdity, and we find them in the carving and painting of almost every church. St. Paul's is full of them."

This is from William Hogarth's book The Analysis of  Beauty.  

Here is a  picture of Christy & Danni's Hadley chest as of yesterday. I think I should put the date of the wedding inside, because it looks like it was 300 years ago.

Crocker & Springer Pottery

We are pleased to introduce a new line of pottery at Antick. We now carry pieces made by Crocker & Springer.
Through extensive research of our forefathers' folk pottery, Crocker & Springer have come to appreciate the integrity of crafts made when our country was young. These early pieces evoke images of hard-working people who carried out daily tasks with pride and dignity. Even though function was the intent of most every item in a settler's home, folk craftsmen were dedicated to forming objects that were also rich in beauty. This commitment to craftsmanship is their goal at Crocker and Springer. Their stoneware is thrown and decorated by hand without the assistance of molds and stencils. It is then stacked rim to rim and fired in a large salt kiln.Their choice of primitive and labor intensive production methods ensures an early American reproduction of authenticity, strength, integrity and beauty.

Don Carpentier

We've just added some new pieces by Don Carpentier. Carpentier has restored the more than 20 buildings that make up Eastfield Village, his 14-acre Upstate New York property which reflects the period 1820-1840 America. A self-taught potter, Don creates Mochaware, the vibrantly colored plates and mugs found in 18th- and 19th century kitchens and taverns. His methods and tools for making Mochaware are authentic, producing pieces that are difficult to distinguish from the originals. Don’s work has received praise from the Henry Francis duPoint Winterthur Museum in Delaware, the Iron Bridge-Coalport Museum in England’s Shropshire, and Paul Atterbury; a regular on the BBC produced Antiques Road Show and Ceramics Monthly magazine. Don has been created china for Old Sturbridge Village and some of his feather-edge creamware dinner service is displayed in several interpretive sites in Colonial Williamsburg.

Lambertville

Even a foggy wintery day in Lambertville can produce some beauties, but sometimes I miss the lush greenness that this view along the canal from Bridge Street presents.

Hadley Chests

I have been making  a Hadley chest for Christy and Danni's wedding. They got married on October 28, 2007. (I know, it's January. I keep putting it aside to work on customer's pieces.) The chests were made from the 1680s to the 1730s in Hampshire county Massachusetts and parts of what is now Connecticut, along the Connecticut River. They were made by several different shops, but all have the same tulip flower and leaf motif. I wanted to make this chest for a few reasons. One, because I love the proportions and organization of the panels. Two, for the idiot glee of the carving. And three, because the design is such a throw back, or maybe more accurately, a holding-on-to of a much earlier time. The construction and form of the chest is basically medieval. The frame and panels being made of riven oak. The design was still being made in England when the first colonists were landing in Plymouth, and continued to be made here by their descendants 100 years later.

I have read that the motifs on the chests are related to pagan May Day festivals, and some of the chests have little dancing figures in them. The chests were usually made with one person's (woman or girl's) name or initials on the center panel or rail, but there are some with two sets of initials. I chose the use just the first letters of each of their first names.

I also made another chest without initials carved on to it so that it could be personalized for anyone who wanted to purchase it. The pictures show it painted and unpainted.

First Post from David Wilson

I have been thinking about what to have as my first post for to long. It's historic, right? Instead I'll just tell you about some of the things you may find here. Thoughts on carving, from chairs to headstones. Cabinet makers like Aflleck, Tuft, Cogswell, Chapin, Frothingham, Egerton, & etc. 18th Century writers like Tobias Smollet, Charles Brockdon Brown, James Boswell, Henry Fielding, Alexander Pope, & etc. Prints and paintings by Hogarth, Copely, Hicks, West, & etc. Architecture, pottery, glassware, bread crumbs . Music & spirits. Tools and supplies. Current projects and demonstrations at the shop, and apparently lists.
Well that wasn't that great for a first post. But I am learning to type and form sentences some thing that working by myself in the shop has greatly impaired. So check back with us and see what's new, or old or new again.
-David

Details details

Here are some details from Wilson's furniture...

Welcome to Antick, a store in lovely downtown Lambertville featuring the work of master craftsman David Wilson. Here are some pictures of our store...

Welcome to Antick Cabinet

This is where we will keep you up-to-date on the whirlwind of unfolding events that is Antick. Pictures of new furniture! And new pottery! And new Glassware! Details of special events that occur in the store! Our reflections on any 18th-century related topic that we feel like talking about!