Paneling, Doors, and Fireplace from the Lawrence House, Beverly, Massachusetts

This mantelpiece is preserved from the Amory A. Lawrence house in Beverly, Massachusetts, a large three-story structure with a mansard roof and a wide veranda. It was situated on the waterfront, near the Hospital Point lighthouse, until it was destroyed by fire in 1969. Typical of Aesthetic Movement mantelpieces of the 1870s and 1880s, the superstructure, with shelves and a large mirror, was conceived as a "little museum" for the display of artistic objects. The mantelpiece features both stylized exotic forms, such as the turned colonnettes and the spindles, as well as beautifully rendered naturalistic carvings of birds nestled among a thick network of leaves and flowers.

Credit: Purchase, Anonymous Gift, 1970