The House of Miniatures

THoM Product # 40020 - Tidewater Virginia Fireplace

Catalog Description: This classic architectural form was popular from Colonial Virginia to Massachusetts. An ancestral portrait was often hung in the recessed panel centered over the mantel. Mid-18th century. 1- 1/2"h x 6 1/2"w x 2 1/4"d.

Circa: 1740-1760

Style: Queen Anne

Period: Colonial

Design © 1976

The fireplace design is typical of that built in the plantation houses of the Virginia Tidewater area Tidewater Virginia formed a background against which a great pageant of events in Colonial history took place from the arrival of the colonists in 1607 at Jamestown to the surrender at Yorktown in 1781. This particular fireplace is typical of those found in Virginia homes built in the 1700's. The heavy molding of the mantel along with support columns adds to the massiveness of its stately design. As was common, the firebox and chimney extended into the room thus adding to the importance of the fireplace into any one of a number of rooms in a home where a fireplace was commonly found. The recessed panel centered over the mantel, many times was where an important political future, an ancestor or famous painting was commonly hung. Most fireplaces of the period were painted the same color as the woodwork. It was the focal point of many pleasurable family hours spent together and around them most families grew in one of the most memorable eras in American history.

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