{"person":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"2552"},"lastName":{"label":"Last Name","value":"Gildersleeve"},"endDate":{"label":"Death Date","value":"1871"},"displayName":{"label":"Name","value":"Thomas Jefferson Gildersleeve"},"objects":{"label":"Objects","value":{"objectTitle":"Turtleback Side Chair","objectNumber":"2017.21.1","objectID":"6100"}},"geographyDied":{"label":"Died","value":["New York","Springfield"]},"geographyActive":{"label":"Active","value":["New York","Springfield"]},"geographyBorn":{"label":"Born","value":["New York","Springfield"]},"beginDate":{"label":"Birth Date","value":"1805"},"firstName":{"label":"First Name","value":"Thomas"},"textEntries":{"label":"Text Entries","value":["Gildersleeve was born in Springfield, New Jersey, and came to New York City as an apprentice in the shop of Richard Tweed (father of \u201cBoss\u201d Tweed). In 1827 he opened his own shop at 237\u2013239 Delancey Street, later relocating to 197 Chatham Street when the street was razed to make way for a bridge. Some elements of Gilder sleeve's stencil kit have survived including packets of metallic powders, papier-mâché boxes, handmade stencil knife, etching tool, and stencils. Eventually the production of such stenciled Fancy chairs was streamlined in manufactories, notably the Hitchcock factory that operated in Connecticut. ","Wright, Florence E. \"The Empire Period Produces The Golden Age of Stencilling.\" The Ornamented Chair. Ed. Zilla R. Lea. 1960. 83-84. Web.One of the few early stencillers whose name has been preserved for us was Thomas Jefferson Gildersleeve (1805\u20131871), gilder and maker of Furniture and Chairs of all descriptions, according to the trade card of his New York shop. As a boy of fifteen he was apprenticed to Richard Tweed, chairmaker of New York City, and lived with the family until 1827, when he was old enough to open his own shop at 237\u2013239 Delancey Street, at the back of his house, above his stables. Here he worked with two apprentices until the house had to be razed to build the Delancey Street bridge. He moved to 197 Chatham Street where he went into business with another early craftsman called Madden. Gildersleeve retired in 1861 and died ten years later, at the age of sixty-six. (See Fig. 29 for an authentic Gildersleeve chair.)Forty authentic Gildersleeve stencils have been found, typical of patterns used on chairs from the 1820's on. They show fruit, flowers and leaves cut in one stencil, pomegranates with stems attached, a single-unit rose, and are indications of the simplification of the art of stencilling as it became increasingly popular and in ever greater demand."]},"primaryMedia":{"value":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/20425/full"},"names":{"label":"Names","value":"Thomas Jefferson Gildersleeve"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"(1805\u20131871)"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"151500"}}]}