Drying Racks

Date1700s

Terms

Drying Racks
Pine
Paint
New England

Dimensions53.3 × 48.22 × 17.77 cm (21 × 19 × 7 in.)

Credit LineGift of Mr. Russell H. Kettell

Object numberH1694

DescriptionDrying or towel rack. Pine, painted. Rack with trestle-type feet with two horizontal bars. Feet are trapezoidal, with all eges chamfered. Mortise, tenoned, and pinned into each is a vertical upright. Uprights are tapered slightly toward top, and chamfered on all corners except where horizontal bars are joined to them, and at top; corners cut off entirely at top. Mortise, tenoned (through tenons), and pinned into uprights are two horizontal bars with slightly chamfered edges, one over the other. Painted (stained?) brown, feet may be black. Function of rack, noted in file, is unclear. Called Clothes Dryer in old file card. When catalogued, was being used to prop up end of a long-handled fraying pan in a fireplace.