Soap Hollow Furniture

Soap Hollow Furniture

Soap Hollow furniture was produced roughly from 1830 to 1890 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The name was reportedly coined from the brown soft soap produced throughout the region, which lies in a hollow. This Western Pennsylvania enclave of Mennonite cabinetmakers worked predominately north of Davidsville in Conemaugh Township. Collectors and dealers alike highly value Soap Hollow furniture in today’s marketplace and the best pieces continue to escalate in price.

Eight cabinetmakers are associated with the Soap Hollow School of cottage craftsmen. Among the known makers are John Sala, Christian Blauch, Peter Thomas and Jeremiah Stahl. All produced furniture with similar design, construction and decoration. The majority was paint-decorated and incorporated cut-paper stencil decoration. Dark red or maroon with black moldings and feet were a popular color combination. Some later pieces were grain-decorated and had floral decals as embellishment. The stencil decoration was often done in gilt and included floral and geometric design work. More unusual stencil images known are spread-wing eagles, pair of facing horses, compotes, stars, hearts and a lyre-shaped design. Another example of a Soap Hollow stencil, but not yet found on a piece of furniture is a profile bust of George Washington. Many Soap Hollow chests possess the initials of the individual it was made for on the front left and the date to the right. This information is often placed on the sides of chest of drawers.

The primary form was the chest and chest of drawers. Although sewing boxes, cradles, rope beds, Dutch cupboards, hanging cupboards and a tall-case clock are known to exist.

The unique body of work that is Soap Hollow expresses a material culture rooted in both Germanic and Neoclassical traditions. This school of work relates in part to another body of paint-decorated furniture sometimes today confused as being, “Soap Hollow.”

In nearby Meyersdale, Somerset County, Jacob Knagy (1796 to 1883) and his son Elias (1832 to 1910) of Swiss decent produced paint and stencil decorated furniture for the Amish. Just as the body of work made in the Schwaben Creek or Mahantongo Valley of Central Pennsylvania represents its own cultural identity, Knagy furniture, though not geographically isolated from Soap Hollow is distinctive onto itself. The majority of pieces made by the Knagys’ possesses red buttermilk paint ground and gilded stencil decoration. Although there are numerous spelling variations of the name Knagy, including, Gnagey, Gnagy, Gnegy and Gnaegi, many pieces are initialed “JK” which stands for Jacob Knagy. Often only baring a small, stenciled name and date of whom the piece was made for and when, Knagy furniture is seldom highly ornamented in contrast to the often-bold scrolled backboards, shaped skirts and larger date and initial stencils of Soap Hollow furniture.

The marketplace continues to recognize the unique expression of American material culture, which is Soap Hollow furniture, and importantly, enough pieces have survived to heighten its wide collecting audience.

Reference note by p4A Contributing Editor Karl Pass.

For further information consult:
Soap Hollow: The Furniture and its Makers by Charles Muller, Canal Press, Groveport, Ohio;
Manufactured By Hand: The Soap Hollow School, (Loretto, Pennsylvania: Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, 1993);
and Ernest Fritz and Charles Muller, The Decorated Furniture of Jacob Knagy, Antiques Review, April 1991, pages 29 to 31.