Armoire, one of a pair

The original red and blue painted surface on this corner armoire makes it a rare survival of French Canadian inspired furniture from the mid-Mississippi River valley during the early years of American settlement. Also called a bonnetiére, this single-door armoire has a history of ownership in Calhoun County, Illinois, just north of the 18th-century French and French Canadian settlements of St. Louis, Missouri, and Cahokia, Illinois. The craftsman who built it incorporated diamond motifs and paint colors used in French Canadian furniture since the early 1600s. Similar to other French Canadian furniture makers in the mid-Mississippi Valley, the craftsman was probably a trained carpenter, suggested in the thick boards of pine and heavily reinforced joints used to construct the armoire.