Artist/Maker

Petersen, Karsten

Place Made

Date Made

1835-1860

Medium

poplar

Dimensions

HOA 17; WOA 14; LOA 14

Accession Number

711.12

Description

Poplar commode or close stool with hinged top and turned legs; corners dovetailed; bottom nailed; small wooden handles on sides; edges of top have nail holes indicating that the top was at one time upholstered; interior has wooden “shelf” set into top with round hole. Stool has been varnished a dark brown.

History

This commode or close stool descended in the Vogler family. The top was originally upholstered, and period books on domestic topics suggest that this was done to allow a person to sit down while they put on their shoes. An appropriate reproduction fabric will eventually replace the missing original.

Artist Biography

ARTIST BIO: Karsten Petersen was born in Wichkrug by Flensburg, Schelswig-Holstein, Prussia on April 21, 1776. Although little is known of his background or training, evidence suggests that he may have lived in Denmark for several years. In 1806, he immigrated to Salem from Gnadau via Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After a brief period in Salem during which Petersen worked in the Single Brothers’ joiner shop and studied English, he and Johann Christian Burkhardt traveled to Georgia to work as craftsmen among the Creek Indians on the Flint River. Petersen and Burkhardt returned to Salem in 1813 and Petersen set up first a turner shop and later a cabinetmaking shop on what had formerly been the Brother’ slaughter house lot. In 1816, Petersen married Suzanna Praezel. They had five children. Their two sons, William and Edward trained in their father’s shop and took the shop over when Petersen died in 1858.

Credit Line

Gift of the children of H.E. Vogler