Shaker furniture is the furniture made by the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, a religious community known as the Shakers, who settled in the United States in the late eighteenth century after originating in north-west England. Their furniture is renowned for its simplicity, functional design, fine proportions and excellent workmanship, reflecting a belief that work was a form of worship.
Shaker craftsmen worked mainly in pine, maple, cherry and other native woods, often finished with thin paint or stain, and avoided superfluous ornament. Characteristic forms include ladder-back rocking chairs with woven tape seats, tall built-in cupboards with drawers, trestle tables, sewing tables and oval bentwood boxes with swallowtail joints. Wall-mounted peg rails allowed chairs and tools to be hung out of the way. The community at Mount Lebanon in New York produced chairs commercially in the late nineteenth century, marked with a transfer label. Genuine Shaker pieces are rare and expensive, especially those with documented community provenance and original surfaces, and later reproductions in Shaker style are widespread. The Shaker aesthetic remains highly influential in kitchens and contemporary furniture, valued for its calm, uncluttered honesty.
