Authors Cynthia V. A. Schaffner and Susan Klein take a regional approach to their topic, beginning with the style and design centers of the East Coast. With authoritative knowledge of piece after piece, Schaffner and Klein discuss painted and gilded furniture as artistic expression and material culture, providing invaluable insights into the talented artist-craftsmen, diverse peoples, and their homes within the far-flung communities of nineteenth-century America.

Prominent craftsmen from each region are highlighted as we are treated to an impressive display of clocks, Windsor chairs, gilded looking glasses, pier tables, and klismos chairs.

Illustrated with more than three hundred photographs, American Painted Furniture details hundreds of exquisitely embellished pieces, many from private collections and seen here for the first time. Special sections explain painting and gilding techniques, and there is an appendix with a source directory and a glossary of terms.