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For the average 21st century teenager, the term antique invokes images of old-fashioned floppy disks and VCRs. Chances are, it won’t be long before the first crop of vintage iPods will be on view at the annual Winter Antiques Show, generally considered the most prestigious such event in the country.
During the show’s 54th incarnation, the Park Avenue Armory was, once again, jammed to the gunwales with grizzled sundries from 75 exhibitors, and crowds of visitors milled among all manner of antediluvian furniture, chandeliers, candlesticks, andirons, cast iron urns, polychromed prancing horses, ancient Egyptian bronze mummy masks for cats, and other curious bric-a-brac the acquisition of which would instantly bankrupt all but the flushest among us.
In their 19th century heyday, the Shakers, a Protestant denomination in upstate New York, numbered roughly 6000 members. Strictly celibate by virtue of their faith, they had some extra time—and energy—on their hands, which they applied rather skillfully towards quality cabinetmaking. Titled An Eye Toward Perfection: The Shaker Museum and Library, over 100 samples of their work were displayed as this year’s loan exhibition during the Winter Antiques Show.
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