Flat Jane Austen Visits Providence, Rhode Island:
In which she pays calls on the elite

Editor's Note: All photos taken inside the Rhode Island School of Design Museum's Pendelton House.

Not all these objects belonged to one family or were displayed at the same time. This is a museum display intended to display the objects in a more natural setting. The museum was free which is why Jane is showing you these rooms and not an actual house museum!

"The evenings can be a bit chilly so I warmed myself by the fire.

Moving along the hallway, I see a gilded mirror in a very American stile. Can you spy the eagle on top? I am told the Bald Eagle is the national bird and prominently featured on Chinaware and other decorative items. However, this mirror is actually French, in the stile of Napoleon! These Americans greatly admire the French.

Girandole (looking glass) c. 1805 with acanthus and eagle design from the French empire period

We sit down to dine in this room. Were you aware that prior to the 90s the Americans did not have separate rooms for dining? These new elegant homes all have dining rooms yet they are not quite as grand or formal as Edward's. Even their portraits are of a recent vintage and less formal than the ones we see in grand dining rooms in England.

Sideboards, knife boxes and cellarets (chests to hold wine bottles) are all new since the 80s.

Flat Jane in a reproduction Federal Era dining room.

This room is furnished in the Neoclassical stile. The furniture is rather delicate rather than the ornate Rococo pieces favored in colonial times. I see Hepplewhite furniture in this room including the dining table to your left.

Mrs. Allin displays many pieces of Chinese export porcelain in her dining room.

Mahogany and pine sideboard and punch bowl with Cantonese Hongs ca. 1785-1800

The portraits seem rather different from our own.

This table is rather modern for an American home.

Susanna's family has excellent taste. Here, her mother has displayed some good English porcelain from Liverpool, Chelsea, Worcester and Derby.
The Liverpool Creamware Jug on the top shelf features an image of a ship. The ship's name can be customized, like The Ann & Hope, a ship once owned by Mr. Nightingale's firm. I believe my mother would like to have one with Frank's ship and one with Charles's ship but which to choose?