Thomas Elfe Thomas Elfe Elfe was born in 1719 in London, England. He was an accomplished and prolific furniture and cabinet craftsman of the American colonial period. Elfe, a contemporary of Thomas Chippendale, was considered Charleston's best furniture craftsman of the eighteenth century. His working career spanned almost thirty years from about 1746 to 1775. At one point in his career his personal worth was a fortune of over 6,200 English pounds. Local Charleston historian and one time director of the Charleston Museum, E. Milby Burton (1889–1977), attributed Elfe as the craftsman of some of the finest nationally acclaimed furniture produced. Burton's
China cabinet as Queen Mary was known for collecting Chinese pottery. Early cabinets were simply designed, often made of walnut. Dutch cabinets began being imported in the late 1600s and early 1700s, and thus English-made cabinets began being influenced by Dutch design. By the middle of the 18th century, china cabinets were typically more elaborate; later cabinets had especially elaborate doors and were lighter weight. China cabinet A china cabinet is a piece of dining room furniture, usually with glass fronts and sides, used to hold and display porcelain dinnerware (china). Typical china held in such cabinets often includes cups, plates, bowls,