Artist/Maker

Petersen, Karsten (attr.)

Place Made

Date Made

1800-1825

Medium

wood

Dimensions

LOA(not incl. vise) 91 1/2; H(base) 31

Accession Number

4120

Description

European style workbench with shoulder vise on left corner and tail vise on right end. Tool tray along back of bench top. Front edge has second row of dog holes similar to bench #773.1, as well as similar turnings on bench screws. Trestle base with tusk tenons on stretchers. Handwrought hardware. Top has runners for drawer, but drawer is missing.

History

Almost identical to other workbenches thought to have been used by Karsten Petersen. Turning on vise and basic construction techniques very similar.
Screw from 773.2 screws into shoulder vise. Workbench made by or in Karsten Petersen’s shop.

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

Old Salem Collection