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
Flax and Wool Cabinet Flax and Wool Cabinet The Flax and Wool Cabinet or the Flax and Wool Wardrobe is a large piece of painted furniture designed by the English architect and designer William Burges. It may have been the first large piece of painted furniture that Burges designed. The cabinet is one of three large pieces of furniture that Burges designed that were displayed at the Architectural Exhibition in Connaught Street, London, in 1859. The other two pieces were the Architectural Cabinet, and the Yatman Cabinet. At the exhibition the three pieces were described as having been made in the preceding 12 months,