A Rare Glimpse: In the Lodge Room

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Tracing Board, 1863

Massachusetts

Gift of Trinity Lodge, A.F. & A.M., Clinton, Massachusetts, 97.007.1

Photograph by David Bohl

 

Brothers at Trinity Lodge in Clinton, Massachusetts, used this tracing board to instruct new members about different Masonic symbols’ meaning and uses. Lodge records show that in 1863 members decided to procure a new tracing board and appointed a committee to undertake the task. Committee member Levi Green (dates unknown) commissioned this tracing board and presented it to the lodge. The artist who painted the work for Green may have employed a printed Masonic chart as a model for his work.   

Skilled painters and artisans fashioned and decorated all kinds of ritual objects for lodges. They understood not only their clients’ wishes, but also knew the tastes of the day. Their Masonic clients lauded these artists’ work and took pride in what they commissioned, describing some of the results as splendid, valuable and elegant. Exploration of lodge histories and records give a hint of the visually exciting settings Masons created in the 1800s. Many lodges had their walls adorned with large renditions of Masonic symbols, others commissioned painted multiple transparencies to illustrate Masonic lectures, yet few of these objects survive. Shifting tastes, changing traditions and ebbs and flows in membership—as well as wear and fire—have taken their toll on these and the tracing boards and lodge furniture Masons commissioned in past centuries. The objects gathered here offer a glimpse of the colorful world Masons enjoyed in decades long past.    

 

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Chest, ca. 1820

New England

Special Acquisitions Fund, 75.28

Photograph by David Bohl

 

A craftsman decorated this pine chest with red paint and stenciled Masonic designs. Stenciled ornaments enjoyed a vogue as decoration on walls, furniture and textiles in the first few decades of the 1800s. The craftsman who stenciled this chest marked it as the property of a Royal Arch chapter with multiple arches on the front and sides. Chapter members would have stored their regalia or other valuable objects in the chest.

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Worshipful Master's Chair, ca. 1870

John Luker (b. 1838)

Vinton County, Ohio   

Gift of the Estate of Charles V. Hagler, 85.20.1.1

Photograph by David Bohl

 

John Luker made this chair for the Master of Swan Lodge No. 358 in New Mount Pleasant, Ohio. Luker delineated Masonic symbols on the chair using metallic paint. In a softly lit lodge room the contrast of the metallic paint with the dark color of the chair would have been striking. In 1870, around the time Luker manufactured the chair, he lived with his brother. His brother worked in the “metallic roofing business,” suggesting a source for the metallic powders Luker used to decorate the chair.                 

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Chest, 1800-1820

New England

Museum Purchase, 96.009

Photograph by David Bohl

 

A Royal Arch chapter likely owned this chest and used it to secure regalia and valuable objects. In the 1700s and 1800s, many families kept portable valuables in locked containers to guard against loss and theft. This chest may have first been utilized in a home and then later adapted—and decorated—to reflect its use by a Masonic group.  

 

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Tracing Board, ca. 1820   

                                        

Attributed to John Ritto Penniman (1782-1841)

Boston, Massachusetts

Special Acquisitions Fund, 89.76

Photograph by David Bohl

 

This striking tracing board features a three-dimensional rendition of King Solomon’s temple in a style inspired by the architecture found in ancient Greece and Rome. Although this work—like most tracing boards—is not signed, some scholars credit ornamental painter John Ritto Penniman with its creation. Penniman belonged to the fraternity, repeatedly advertised his interest in serving Masonic clients and undertook commissions for Masonic lodges.

 

A Rare Glimpse: In the Lodge Room