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 November, 2010 | 50 Items | March, 2011  |
| GLASS BANK WITH ROOSTER FINIAL ENCASING TWO HALF DIMES, The Sandwich Glass Company, Massachusetts, circa 1851, the upper coin is half-dime dated 1851 lower coin is four-pence dated 1833, h. 11 3/4 in. There is a very small chip at the outside bottom of one arch where it meets the shoulder of the bank. Literature: similar examples can be found in George and Helen McKearin, American Glass, Crown Publishers, New York, 1941, Plate 59. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $10,000-20,000 Price Realized: $23,180 | |
| PAIR OF GLAZED POTTERY LIONS, Bennington, Vermont, mid 19th Century, each impressed on the bottom with the circular mark " Lyman , Fenton & Company, Bennington, Vermont, 1849 " h. 9 1/4 in., w. 11 in., d. 5 7/8 in. Pairs of Bennington Lions in Excellent condition are rare. A similar pair of Bennington Pottery Lions are featured in Robert Bishop, American Folk Art: Expressions of a New Spirit, (New York, Museum of American Folk Art), pp. 100-101. Overall these lions are in excellent condition. Both retain their original tails - there are no signs of breakage. There is a large chip and a smaller chip on the base of one example. There are very small losses on the bottom where kiln glaze has chipped off - these happened in the making. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $8,000-12,000 Price Realized: $23,180 | |
| | CHIPPENDALE CARVED WALNUT BRASS DIAL TALL CASE CLOCK, Pennsylvania, probably Germantown, circa 1765, h. 94 in., w. 22 in., d. 13 1/2 in. Provenance: Mrs. Alfred deHaas Reeves ( Mrs. George Thayer) Robert Carlen, Philadelphia, Purchased 1978 by Joseph and Janet Shein. Original Receipt from Carlen to the Sheins accompanies this lot. The works may possibly be by George Miller, who was noted as working in Germantown, Pennsylvania from circa 1760 - after 1800. The surface of this clock has been cleaned. There are some replacements to applied scroll-board carving; (some tips of leaves, etc) ; top 1 1/4 inches of scroll board have been replaced (apparently the top was cut down to accomodate a low ceiling); but Rosettes appear to be original. glass in both side panels is cracked; losses to paint on moonface; 1 1/2 inch of the bottoms of the feet have been ended out; finials appear to be and cartouche ( ornaments) are old but may not be original to the clock. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011 Estimate: $3,000-6,000 Price Realized: $61,000 |
| THE POST FAMILY CARVED AND PAINTED TULIP POPLAR SPOON RACK, New Jersey, probably Bergen County, circa 1737, inscribed "Ano 1737" and "MDP" microanalysis by Alden Identification Service h. 24 3/4 in., w. 8 3/4 in., d. 2 1/4 in. Provenance: Descended directly in the family of Captain Adrian Post (d. 1677) of Bergen Country, New Jersey to the present owner. Captain Adrian Post's sons, Adrian and Abraham Post moved to the Bergen (Jersey City) New Jersey area in 1735; The spoon rack passed to George Washington Post (b. 1816) and his wife Hannah (b. 1816); To their son Daniel A. Post (b. 1843 Hohokus, Bergen, NJ), who married Alma (Hering) Eckerson (b. 1867); To their daughter Catherine Jane Post, who married Charles A. Quackenbush in 1889; To their daughter Almeta (Quackenbush) Hartmann (4/16/1900-1/3/2010) Overall, the piece remains in good, original condition considering the age. There is some losses and abrasions; there is a 1" chip to lower right corner; There are some cracks and losses to bottom two spoon holders; There are remains of original salmon paint under what appears to be later brown paint. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $10,000-20,000 Price Realized: $42,000 | |
| PAINT DECORATED TULIP POPLAR BOX WITH SLIDING LID, depicting painted peacock, rooster, and vases of tulips, Pennsylvania, probably South Eastern Pennsylvania, 1764, initialed and dated on Sliding lid "BS 1764". Boxes from Pennsylvania with profuse decoration like that found on the present example are extremely rare. With its combination of Polychrome Tulips in a Vase, a Peacock , a Chicken and geometric work including initials a date, 1764 it is one of the most elaborate boxes extant. The base is attached to the sides, and the molding attached to the sliding lid with wooden pegs. Also the inner corners of the box are marked with the original red chalk construction markings. h. 5 3/4 in., w. 17 in., d. 11 5/8 in. Wood analysis performed by Alden Identification Services. An analysis of the paint was performed November, 2010 by Jennifer L. Mass, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Scientific Research and Analysis Laboratory, Conservation Department, Winterthur Museum: The palette identified for this box includes lead white, vermilion, red lead, Prussian blue, and yellow ochre. All of these pigments have been used since antiquity, with the exception of Prussian blue which was introduced in 1704 [see, for example, B.Berrie, "Prussian Blue", Artists Pigments, Volume 3, E. West FitzHugh (ed.), Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1997]. As a result, all of the pigments identified are appropriate to the 1764 date painted on the lid of the box and would have been used during the period in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The palette also is in agreement with the traditional Pennsylvania German palette as observed on blanket chests, schranks, and other painted furniture as well as fraktur. The presence of red lead is inferred from the x-ray fluorescence data, but full confirmation of this pigment would require sampling for Raman spectroscopy. A natural resin varnish was identified by FTIR, and FTIR also suggests that the paint binder is a drying oil such as linseed oil. The full report is available at Keno Auctions by request. Provenance: H. Richard Dietrich Jr. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $20,000-40,000 Price Realized: $32,940 | |
| PAINTED WHITE PINE FIREBOARD WITH TILES AND VASE OF FLOWERS, New England, probably Massachusetts, First half of 19th Century. This fireboard is one of a small group by the same artist that share distinctive, decorative elements such as the treatment of faux tile decoration - here with trees inset - and the central shading which suggests a hearth. This example was found in Franklin, Massachusetts, which borders the Blackstone Valley in central Massachusetts. A fireboard with similar decoration is at Winterthur (Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont, 1967.1859); Nina Fletcher Little owned a second example that she illustrated in Little by Little. A third is in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center in Williamsburg, Virginia. 33 5/16 by 47 1/8 in. Overall, it is in good shape - some losses and abrasions. Provenance: Found in the attic of a family home in Franklin, Massachusetts. Literature: The Winterthur example is illustrated in Kenneth L. Ames's Beyond Necessity: Art in the Folk Tradition, fig. 85; For illustrations of Little example, see Nina Fletcher Little's Little by Little: Six Decades of Collecting American Decorative Arts, fig. 130, p. 197; and Sotheby's catalogue for "The Bertram K. Little and Nina Fletcher Little and Nina Fletcher Little Collection", January 29, 1994, lot 418. For other examples of similar fireboards, see Northeast Auctions, "The Collection of Claude and Alvan Bisnoff", Oct. 27, 2007, lot 647; Sotheby's, "Important Americana", Jan. 20, 2005, lot 976; and Jean Lipman, The Flowering of American Folk Art, p. 202, cat. 270. There is also a similar overmantle panel in a house on Stetson Street in Lakeville, Massachusetts. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $20,000-40,000 Price Realized: $41,480 | |
| DIMINUTIVE PAINT-DECORATED PINE BLANKET CHEST, Taunton, Massachusetts, circa 1726, hinged top is a second half of half of 19th century replacement, h. 20 1/2 in., w. 22 1/4 in., d. 12 3/4 in. The top was replaced sometime between 1840-1880 judging from the planing marks and other tool markings such as square holes holes from nails that secure the now missing cleats. Some time after that, the entire piece, including the top was painted green and then the paint was later removed. Some green paint remains on the entire back and in several other places. The lock is missing from the upper chest. Inpainting and overpainting to the right hand tree (primarily to the right of the knob); also to the left tree (to the left of the knob). Provenance: Esther Stevens Frazer who died in 1945; Historical Society of Early American Decoration; purchased from the Historical Society of Early American Decoration very shortly after it closed its museum in Albany, NY; Owned by consignors since September 1990. Literature: Illustrated in Esther Stevens Fraser, "The Tantalizing Chests of Taunton," The Magazine Antiques (April 1933), p. 136, fig. 3. This small painted chest has been attributed to one of early America's most distinctive furniture makers. Robert Crosman was a Taunton joiner and cabinetmaker who built and painted a group of twenty-two chests that display whimsical yet regularized painted decoration of vines, flowers, and birds. The early scholar Esther Stevens Fraser first discussed and illustrated this piece in 1933 in her seminal article on Crosman. This small, one drawer chest appears to date from Crosman's earliest period, when his decoration is more restrained. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $2,000-4,000 Price Realized: $14,640 | |
| WILLIAM AND MARY VENEERED HIGH CHEST OF DRAWERS, Boston, circa 1705-1720, In two sections; the upper with a walnut-veneered cornice molding and a figured maple-veneered pulvinated frieze incorporating a hidden document drawer in front; the drawer-fronts are richly figured maple veneer; the drawer dividers are walnut veneered; sides of the case comprised of four bookmatched panels of vividly figured maple veneer encased by walnut herringbone banding and walnut veneer; the base molding of the upper case is veneered; the midmolding attached to the top of the lower case is solid walnut; the painted turned trumpet and vase-form legs are joined by a shaped flat stretcher and end in turned ball feet. h. 68 in., w. (of lower case) 38 in., w. (at mid molding) 40 3/4 in., w. (at upper case) 36 in., w. (of cornice molding) 40 in., d. 22 1/4 in. This previously undocumented high chest is a rare and wonderful survival. It and one other example are the most fully developed veneered examples known. The main things that distinguish this High Chest are that the cornice moldings and drawer surrounds are veneered (walnut) and that the piece has veneered figured panels (maple) not only on the drawer fronts but also on the sides. The veneered panels are enclosed by Walnut veneered Herringbone and other banding. Comparable high chests have solid maple and, in rare occasions, solid walnut sides, a considerably less expensive option. Some dressing tables have survived with veneered sides. Two other examples with veneered walnut moldings exist. A high chest at Bayou Bend and a high chest at Winterthur are the only other known example with veneered moldings, and fully veneered sides. (See David Warren, Michael Brown, et al., American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection, Princeton, 1998, pp 19, 20 item F34). Despite the legs having a different profile, (they would have probably been purchased from a turner's shop), the construction features and dimensions are extremely similar. The high chest is at Winterthur (acc.no. 66.1306). This High chest of drawers represents the pinnacle of cabinetmaking in the baroque style in early 18th-century Boston. The tremendous amount of workmanship and the great expense incurred by his client make this high chest of Drawers - to quote Michael Brown - " an item of unusual luxury" (Brown, referring to Bayou Bend's example, p. 19). Provenance: An apparently 19th century inscription on the bottom of the bottom board reads " hanover st.. ( illegible)". The top of the upper section is inscribed "A. H. Wethey/ 312 Quartz St/ Butte Montana. Wethey was a mining engineer in Butte, circa 1900- 1908. Purchased by the present owner at a small auction in Honolulu, Hawaii 15 years ago. The piece has survived in a remarkable state of preservation for an almost 300 year old object. The repairs to mostly the drawer dividers and surrounds were done with solid horizontally grained walnut moldings which are easily detectable from the original veneered ones that remain. Several small pieces of veneer are missing. At a very early date, in the first half of the 19th century or earlier the following horizontal passages of vertically positioned veneered molding were replaced with solid walnut facing: The top covex molding, the molding at the left and front along the bottom of the upper-case and the slightly convex molding on the top surface of the mid-molding. The strips that once were applied to the bottom edge of the skirt with nails are mostly gone or have been shaved so that they are flush with the skirt. The knobs that were on the piece when it was brought to Keno Auctions are from the second half of the 19th century and have been replaced with reproduction Londonderry teardrop pulls in the original holes in which similar pulls that were once installed. There is evidence of a second set of cotter pin brasses with bales. The holes from these cotter pins have been filled and plugged on the drawer front. Remarkably, the legs and stretchers have survived intact without being cleaned. They retain their original finish. All elements on the base, comprising the Legs, stretchers and feet, are original. Importantly, they retain their original finish- beneath layers of dirt. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $60,000-120,000 Price Realized: $317,000 | |
| THE WILLIAM TURNER QUEEN ANNE MAHOGANY SLIPPER FOOT TEA TABLE, Goddard-Townsend School, Newport, Rhode Island, circa 1750, Rectangular top with applied convex molding strips, applied convex apron flanked by shaped brackets, above cabriole legs, with peaked knees and terminating in pointed slipper feet. h. 25 3/4 in., w. 31 in., d. 19 1/4 in. Provenance: Remarkably, the present table has descended directly in the William Turner family of Newport, Rhode Island. The following genealogical survey relates the line of descent of this object. Dr. William Turner (1712-1754), a resident of Newport, Rhode Island, and later of Newark, New Jersey, graduated from Harvard and worked as a physician and a surgeon. William married Mehitable Foster (b. 1715), and they had four children: Lydia (1746-), William (1748-1755), Daniel (1750-1837), and Peter (1751-1822). Family tradition relates the present table as descending through the family lines of Daniel and Peter. Captain Daniel Turner (1750-1837) was active in the Continental Army on 1776 to 1881. Daniel married Sarah Foster (1754-1809), a first cousin, and they had ten children, including William (1775-1837). Captain Daniel Foster died in Newport, Rhode Island in 1837. Dr. Peter Turner (1751-1822) graduated from Princeton and was a Surgeon in the Continental Army on Washington's staff (1776-1781). Peter married Eliza Turner, a first cousin, and they had nine children, including Mehitable Foster (1780-1853). Following the Revolutionary War, the Dr. Peter Turner family moved to East Greenwich, Rhode Island, where Peter died in 1822. Notably, Peter was brother-in-law to General James Varnum, and a friend of Lafayette. Dr. William Turner (1775-1837), son of Captain Daniel, graduated from Princeton and was admitted to the full practice of medicine when only 19 years old. On August 31, 1799, President John Adams appointed him a Surgeon in the United States Navy. William married Mehitable Foster (1780-1853), a first cousin and daughter of Dr. Peter, and they had nine children, including Peter (1803-1871). Peter had a long and distinguished career in the Navy, and traveled extensively over his 48 years of service. President James Monroe appointed him a Midshipman in the United States Navy on March 4, 1823. Peter became Commander in 1862 and was stationed at Philadelphia Naval Asylum where he remained until his death having achieved the rank of Commodore. Commodore Peter Turner married Sarah Stafford Jones (1826-1875) and they had five children, including Hettie Foster (1850-1937). Hettie Foster Turner married Henry Harlan, and they had three children including James Turner (1850-1937), through which the present table has descended to the Turner Family Trust Sold on behalf of the Trust by Leigh Keno American Antiques. A Northern New England Collection Other Notes: Rectangular tea tables of this type were extremely popular in mid-18th century Newport and they are quite consistent in design and construction. Executed with a single-board top, the upper edge is beaded and laps over the skirt. The bottom of this board is rabbited to fit into the skirt frame. A heavy convex molding is applied to the perimeter. This rim is almost always of the same pattern - with a broad convex inner edge and beaded top edge with a rounded exterior. The skirts on all known examples have a convex applied skirt molding. On most tables, including the present example, the knee brackets are separate pieces of wood affixed to the bottom of the molding and the adjoining leg. The table that most closely echoes this table in its proportion, condition, and exquisite provenance is the Robinson Family tea table which was purchased by Leigh Keno American Antiques at Christie's (lot 550) in January of 2005 for $352,000. The present example is among the very best to survive. It is distinguished by its dense mahogany original finish and bold tray molding. However, the cabriole legs which are square in section from projecting knee to slender ankle and their curve continues unbroken from the peaked knee to the tip of the long graceful pointed slipper foot. There is a very pronounced, yet delicate, curve to the back of the leg that tapers and sweeps to the base of the heel. This elegant feature further defines the ankle profile, distinguishing the example above most of its counterparts. Tables in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , Pendleton House , and the Newport Historical Society share similar design and construction details.Additionally, two related Newport tea tables, one at Bayou Bend and the other in a private collection., share a similar stylistic vocabulary with the present table. Overall the table is in an excellent state of preservation. The surface retains a warm mellow patina. One knee return, ¼" thinner than the other returns, is original. Six of the knee returns are old replacements, possibly from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. One knee return is a recent replacement by Robert Fileti Antique Conservation. Two of the vertical glue blocks are original and two vertical glue blocks are old replacements. Four vertical glue blocks are now missing. The eight original horizontal glueblocks are now missing but their witness marks remain. The top has a shrinkage crack parallel to the length of its perimeter. There is a 2" crack pattern to a corner and a corresponding break at the rabbited edge of the top board. Old loss of pointed toe of foot has been replaced by Robert Fileti Antique Conservation. An old fruit jar label with red-lined border (loss to the right side) with typed inscription: "This is the ***/erty of Hett***/Harlan in the ***/Annie S. Tur***/called for by***/her children". [This is the Prop- / erty of Hettie Turner / Harlan in the care of / Annie S. Turner until / called for by her or / her children]. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $70,000-120,000 Price Realized: $170,800 | |
| FEDERAL SERPENTINE MAHOGANY INLAID CHEST OF DRAWERS, Southern, possibly Charleston, SC, circa 1780-1795, h. 37 in., w. 39 in., d. 22 in.John Doig of J. S. Doig Restoration prepared the following essay: Originally documented in the Northeast, several chests of drawers very similar in form are documented to have primarily descended through the Wendall, Langdon, Rundlet, and Parrott families of Portsmouth, NH. At least one example was exported to Charleston, SC, where it served as an example for high end cabinet makers of the area. A number of chests belonging to this group have been attributed to Charleston, with one example having initially been erroneously attributed to Rhode Island. Although very few Charleston pieces were ever signed or labeled, and many times not even documented by an invoice, they share many constructional features and the distinct use of locally available secondary woods. Most have dustboards that continue almost to the back of the case, and incorporate the use of highly figured drawer front veneers. Many of these chests also boast and bold and exaggerated serpentine façade. One of the most recognizable features is the engraving of pictoral inlay with fine lines, which were then inked or blackened. This element of design is rarely seen in American work, but was a commonly used practice in Charleston furniture, as was the use of floral marquetry featuring interwoven vines, leaves, and flowers. A similar chest resides in the Colonial Williamsburg collection however notable differences include canted foot corners, book-matched veneered drawer fronts, and the use of mahogany as a secondary wood for the drawers. Construction Notes: The solid mahogany top is adjoined to the case sides by sliding dovetails. The case bottom is dovetailed directly to the sides. The front of the case sides are laminated by yellow pine, which is then stepped in by another laminate cut on an angle to make up the canted corners, which were then veneered by mahogany. A block of solid mahogany is used for the top and bottom out-curving of the corners. The three backboards are fit together by tongue and groove, and are set into a rabbit cut into the case sides, coming up to rest underneath the top and overlapping the case bottom. They are nailed in place. Each drawer blade is mahogany veneered yellow pine, backed by a yellow pine dustboard extending to about two inches from the backboards. The drawer blades are dovetailed into the case sides, with the slightly thinner dustboards resting in dadoes cut into the case sides. The dustboards were then wedged from the bottom to create a tight fit. (It is interesting to note here that the cabinetmaker dovetailed the drawer blades, and cut a separate, thinner, dado for the thinner dustboards rather than cutting a single width dado all the way back and using an glue strip as a spacer underneath the dustboard, which would have been much easier and taken much less time). The base molding is made out of laminated mahogany on yellow pine strips glued to the case bottom along the sides, with the front molding having been run on a solid strip of mahogany glued to the case bottom. The bracket feet are glued to the base molding strips, with the front corner bracket feet having been mitered. The rear faces of the rear feet are dadoed into the side faces about one inch from the back. All of the feet are reinforced by flat yellow pine glue blocks gouged out to accommodate the curves of the bracket feet. These blocks are glued to the underside of the base molding strips. Quarter round vertical glue blocks were originally set beneath the flat blocks in the corners. The drawers are joined with dovetails. The drawer faces are sawn from laminated yellow pine, and veneered with horizontally running mahogany. The drawer fronts were then applied with a lightwood cockbeading. The beveled drawer bottoms are set into dadoes along the front and sides, and nailed into the drawer back. They were originally then reinforced by glue blocks along the front and sides. The canted corners of the case were inlayed with a flower and vine pattern, with fine leaf detail being etched into the inlay and blackened. The top and drawer fronts are inlayed with a border made out of light/dark stringing, satinwood, and barber pole. Conservational Approach: When taking on a conservational approach, the main emphasis is retaining as much originality as possible, taking into account normal wear and use the piece has experienced, as well as analyzing older restorations, how they were done, to figure out what has happened to the piece throughout its lifetime. Overall, this chest is in a remarkable state of preservation. At some point in the 20th century, the chest was refinished, which has yellowed and been bleached out over time, giving the chest a bland, dull look. Fortunately, the chest doesn't appear to have been heavily sanded, and the wood retains much of its old patina. By chemically removing this finish, and re-applying a polished shellac finish, the chest can be brought back to its original luster, as well as show the colors and contrast of the inlays as was intended. The replaced feet, likely done at the time of the last refinishing, are done quite well, and have aged nicely with the rest of the chest. These replaced feet represent a quality and legitimate repair, and draw nothing away from the appearance of the piece, having become part of its history, and likely should be left as they are. Throughout the piece, some poorly done inlay repairs are evident, and should be re-done to a much more exacting standard, utilizing the correct woods and patterns. Repairs to broken and missing crossbanding and cockbeading are also necessary. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $20,000-40,000 Price Realized: $61,000 | |
| PAIR OF CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL TABLE GLOBES ON STANDS, circa 1788-1790 made by "FERGUSONS TERRESTRIAL GLOBE, ENGLAND" The original receipt that accompanies these globes documents that John Francis (1763-1796), the son-in-law of John Brown (1736-1803), purchased them in Philadelphia. Originally from Philadelphia, Francis married Abby Brown (1766-1821) in 1788, and then relocated to Providence. h. 17 1/2 in. (including stand). Other Notes: Like his father-in-law, John Francis was a merchant who had ships bound for far flung ports, so these globes would have been used for more than mere furnishings. They reflected the latest cartographical information of the period, including a marking of the Voyage of the legendary English navigator and explorer James Cook (1728-1779). Francis must have had a fascination with Captain Cook, for a 1784 set of Volumes of Captain Cook's Voyages with John Francis' signature descended with the globes. The set is the next lot in the sale (lot 215). Their son, John Brown Francis (1791-1864), who served as U.S. Senator and Governor of Rhode Island, inherited these globes upon the death of his parents. He then left them to his daughters, Elizabeth Francis (1833-1901) and Sally Francis (1834-1904). They in turn bequeathed the globes to Alice Francis Brown (d. 1936), upon whose death they went to the present owner, who is the great-great grandson of the original owner, John Francis. The pair of globes were restored in 1987 - a full restoration report is available. Sold at Keno Auctions January 18, 2011. Estimate: $2,000-4,000 Price Realized: $13,000 | |
| PENNSYLVANIA PAINTED COURTING MIRROR, ca. 1820, retaining its original vibrant polychrome surface with florette corners, 11" l., 9" w. Exhibited New York Julius Lowy Frame Company Folk Frames, Fall 1991- Winter 1992. Provenance: Walters-Benisek; Fred and Kathryn Giampetro. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimated: $3,500 - $5,500 Price Realized: $15,405 | |
| NEW ENGLAND PILGRIM CENTURY PINK BLANKET CHEST, late 17th c., the rectangular lift lid over a boldly molded case with a single drawer supported by cutout feet, retaining a red and black surface, 28 1/2" h., 42" w. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011 Estimated: $3,000 - $5,000 Price Realized $4,029 | |
| IMPRESSIVE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY PAINTED PINE CUPBOARD, late 18th c., the raised panel doors with original H-L hinges, the upper section with scalloped interior shelves all within a boldly molded frame, retaining an exceptional original green surface, 81" h., 87 1/2" w. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $5,000 - $10,000 Price Realized: $15,405 | |
| NEW ENGLAND CHERRY OCTAGONAL LANTERN, early 19th c., with bentwood handle. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $400 - $800 Price Realized: $1,304 | |
| PENNSYLVANIA PAINTED PINE MINIATURE BLANKET CHEST, 19th c., retaining its original salmon swirl decoration, 12" h., 13 3/4" w. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $400 - $800 Price Realized: $3,081 | |
| HISTORICAL BLUE STAFFORDSHIRE PLATE, 19th c., depicting Washington & Lafayette, 10 1/8" dia. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $800 - $1200 Price Realized: $3,792 | |
| PHILADELPHIA CHIPPENDALE MAHOGANY DINING CHAIR, ca. 1770, the cabochon crest over a pierced and voluted splat with carved shoe, above a trapezoidal slip seat resting in a carved seat frame supported by cabriole legs terminating in ball and claw feet. An identical chair is illustrated in Kirk American Chairs Queen Anne and Chippendale, fig. 68. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $18,000 - $25,000 Price Realized: $18,960 | |
| PENNSYLVANIA QUEEN ANNE WALNUT TALL CHEST, ca. 1760, the molded cornice over four arched drawers, five short drawers, and four long drawers flanked by double raised panel sides supported by bracket feet, appears to retain its original brass hardware, 67" h., 39 1/4" w. A similar example with only three arched drawers was sold at Pook & Pook Smith Collection on October 30, 2010, lot 2. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $20,000 - $40,000 Price Realized: $37,920 | |
| PENNSYLVANIA WALNUT TAVERN TABLE, ca. 1765, the rectangular top overhanging a frame with single drawer supported by turned legs joined by a box stretcher, 28 3/4" h., 37" w., 27" d. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000?Price Realized: $10,073 | |
| SOUTHERN QUEEN ANNE MAHOGANY TEA TABLE, attributed to Chowan County, North Carolina, ca. 1765, the circular top over a dovetailed box, birdcage, and baluster standard supported by cabriole legs terminating in pad feet, 28" h., 29 1/4" w. For two related examples, see Bivins The Furniture of Coastal North Carolina, figs. 5.69 and 5.70. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 Price Realized: $4,503 | |
| PENNSYLVANIA OR MARYLAND CHIPPENDALE WALNUT DINING CHAIR, ca. 1770, the serpentine crest with central cabochon flanked by tassels over a pierced acanthus carved splat, above a trapezoidal slip seat supported by carved cabriole legs terminating in ball and claw feet. An identical side chair is illustrated in Downs American Furniture Queen Anne and Chippendale, fig. 123. A related armchair, probably by the same hand is illustrated in Heckscher American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, fig. 61. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 Price Realized: $26,070 | |
| SET OF EIGHT PENNSYLVANIA BIRDCAGE WINDSOR CHAIRS, ca. 1825, to include two armchairs and six side chairs. According to family records, these chairs were originally owned by Edward Hicks. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $800 - $1,200 Price Realized: $3,318 | |
| VIBRANT PENNSYLVANIA WATERCOLOR AND INK ON PAPER FRAKTUR, birth record for Elisabeth Behr, born April 9, 1782 to Philip and Elisabeth Behr of Lancaster County dated twice 1802, with central heart enclosing script with cross hatched and scalloped border flanked by elaborate potted floral trees surmounted by birds and fish with spotted faces and teeth in red, black, and yellow, 13" x 15 1/2". Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000 Price Realized: $10,665 | |
| LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA PAINTED DOWER CHEST, late 18th c., the front with two ivory clover leaf panels with stylized flowers, all on a blue/green ground supported by bracket feet, 23 1/4" h., 45 3/4" w. Provenance: Clarence Prickett. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $5,000 - $10,000 Price Realized: $17,775 | |
| | WILLIAM BIRCH THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA IN THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA NORTH AMERICA, as it appeared in the year 1800 book of twenty-eight plates, published in 1800, First Edition, a visual record of Philadelphia depicting homes and public buildings including First Presbyterian Church, Alms House, Bank of Pennsylvania, and twenty-five others, oblong folio in sheets on laid and wove paper, engraved by W. Barker, the title page with the arms of Pennsylvania, retaining its original leather binding, 14 1/4" x 18". William Russel Birch (1755-1834) was the first person to successfully publish engraved view books in the United States. Among the 156 original subscribers to the work were Gilbert Stuart and Thomas Jefferson who kept his copy in Washington and then to Monticello until he sold it to help form the Library of Congress. There are not many copies of this book extant with few known still in private hands. The last public sale occurred at Sotheby's in November, 2000. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $70,000 - $90,000 Price Realized: $118,500 |
| THE EXTREMELY RARE MANCIUS FAMILY BOSTON WILLIAM AND MARY CARVED MAPLE ARMCHAIR, ca. 1700, with scroll and foliate carved crest and frontal stretcher with leather upholstery. The chair is branded with W. Mancius on the rear rail. Wilhelmus Mancius of Ulster Co., New York who inherited the chair, was born in 1739 and married Anna Ten Eyck. The chair descended linearly to Robert Rose Johnson from whom Joe Kindig Jr. purchased the chair and sold it to Titus Geesey in 1935. A letter detailing the history and transaction accompanies this lot. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $40,000 - $60,000 Price Realized: $77,025 | |
| PAINTED PINE, POPLAR, AND MAPLE HANGING CUPBOARD, late 18th c., with picture frame molding and raised panel door with incised carved distelfinks, retaining an old blue surface, 29" h., 25" w. Provenance: Titus Geesey. Sold by order of the trustees of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to benefit acquisition funds. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $800 - $1,200 Price Realized: $8,295 | |
| PENNSYLVANIA BLACK WALNUT AND PINE TAVERN TABLE, ca. 1760, frame and plank construction with mortise and tenon joints. removable three plank top secured with carved hand pegs through two battens. Drawers ride on extension of sides; have molded overlapping edges; four dovetails each corner, bottom feathered and let into sides and front; turned wood pulls. Carved apron applied to front frame. Disk turnings on four legs. Stretchers molded top and bottom, tenoned into legs, 29 1/2 X 54 1/4 X 31 1/4. Provenance: Titus Geesey. Sold by order of the trustees of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to benefit acquisition funds. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000 Price Realized: $2,133 | |
| WILLIAM AND MARY OAK JOINT STOOL, early 18th c., possibly Massachusetts, 21" h., 17" w., 10" d. Sold at Pook and Pook January 14-15, 2011. Estimate: $1,500 - $2,000 Price Realized: $11,850 | |
| A WILLIAM AND MARY WALNUT TWIST-CARVED AND DRAW-BAR OVAL TABLE ,New York City, 1690-1730, 28¾ in. high, 26½ in. wide, 45¼ in. long. With twist-carved legs and a draw-bar support, this drop-leaf table is an exceedingly rare example of early New York craftsmanship. As discussed by Peter Kenny in 1994, only seventeen New York draw-bar tables are known and of these, only five feature the exuberant spiral- or twist-carved legs so illustrative of the Baroque aesthetic. The earliest of these may be the example at Winterthur Museum (fig. 1) as its double-Y stretcher follows the same pattern as that on an imported Dutch table made in 1660-1680, which descended in the Phillipse family. The other four, including the table offered here, have broad rectangular frames, to accommodate the draw-bar support, and twist-carved cross stretchers. The legs are pinned to the corners of the dovetailed frame, which allows the leg to be rotated and the lower block positioned at 90 degrees to the stretcher, thus providing a more secure joint. Though made in a different shop, the example offered here is most closely related to one in a private collection, illustrated in Kenny, fig. 11; the last two in the group both feature apron corners with applied plaques, possibly to emulate heavy joinery, and may be the work of another single shop. These tables are five of only twenty known examples of American furniture with twist-carved legs, a decorative treatment that required meticulous craftsmanship and was a more expensive option to turned legs. Illustrating Continental European practices, this table and other New York twist-carved furniture feature single twists and contrast with the tighter double twists seen on similar furniture made in New England, Pennsylvania and the South. See Peter M. Kenny, "Flat Gates, Draw Bars, Twists, and Urns: New York's Distinctive, Early Baroque Oval Tables with Falling Leaves," American Furniture 1994, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, WI, 1994), pp. 109-116, 122-123, 133, fn. 19; Benno M. Forman, American Seating Furniture, 1630-1730 (New York, 1988), pp. 220-223. Provenance Fred J. Johnston, circa 1988 Literature Roderic H. Blackburn and Ruth Piwonka, Remembrance of Patria: Dutch Arts and Culture in Colonial America, 1609-1776 (Albany, 1988), p. 174, cat. 186.?Peter M. Kenny, "Flat Gates, Draw Bars, Twists, and Urns: New York's Distinctive, Early Baroque Oval Tables with Falling Leaves," American Furniture 1994, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1994), p. 132, fn. 10. (referenced) Exhibited Albany, New York, Albany Institute of History and Art: Remembrance of Patria, 9 May-12 October, 1986. Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $12,000-$18,000 Price Realized: $35,000 | |
| A WILLIAM AND MARY TURNED MAPLE GATELEG DROP-LEAF TABLE BOSTON, 1710-1730, 28¼ in. high, 18 in. wide (closed), 54¼ in. long Provenance Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $12,000-$18,000 Price Realized: $110,500 | |
| THE ELIAS HASKET DERBY FEDERAL CARVED MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIR CARVING ATTRIBUTED TO SAMUEL MCINTIRE (1757-1811), SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, 1790-1798, retains an old and possibly original finish, 39¼ in. high Adorned with exquisite ornament rendered by the celebrated designer and carver, Samuel McIntire (1757-1811), this side chair is a masterpiece of American Neoclassicism. The chair's urn, basket of fruit and grapevine carving illustrate not only his talents but also provide a glimpse of the lavish and coordinated interiors conceived and executed by McIntire for the illustrious Derby family of Salem. Demonstrating a keen awareness of European fashion and his own ingenuity, McIntire drew upon the work illustrated in George Hepplewhite's The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer's Guide (London, 1788), but altered and adapted these drawings to create his own unique designs. As noted by Dean Lahikainen, the chair is a variant of Hepplewhite's plate 2 with a shield-back, bow-front over-upholstered seat, straight tapering front legs and outward flaring rear legs, a model popular in Federal-era Salem. For the set represented by this chair, McIntire omitted the drapery running across the splat and instead embellished the urn with a more domed top and swags of festoons similar to that surmounting a bedstead design in plate 98 of Hepplewhite's Guide (Dean T. Lahikainen, Samuel McIntire: Carving an American Style (Salem, 2007), p. 231). The same bedstead design features pendant husks headed by a double-bow knot, a motif seen on the chair's front legs. McIntire's innovative contributions comprise the addition of oval reserves with floral interiors on the side bars of the splat, his distinctive basket of fruit in the base of the splat and the substitution of elaborate grapevines for the more ubiquitous pendant husks on the front legs. The chair was part of an original set of probably eight chairs made for Elias Hasket Derby (1739-1799) (fig. 1) and his wife, Elizabeth Crowninshield (1736-1799), the most affluent and prominent citizens of Salem of the time and McIntire's most significant clients. Of the original set, five other chairs are in public collections, four at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and one at Winterthur Museum. Building upon his family wealth by equipping privateers during the American Revolution and later pioneering trade with China, Elias Hasket Derby amassed a vast fortune and is often revered as "America's first millionaire." From the time of their marriage in 1762 until 1796, the couple lived in a large Georgian brick house built by Elias' father as a wedding present and which still stands on Washington Street in Salem. Beginning in 1794, the Derbys, particularly Mrs. Derby, began working with McIntire on designs for a new residence. This house, the Derby Mansion at 215 Essex Street, introduced a new level of grandeur and opulence to the Salem community. Overlooking the waterfront, it was described by a visitor in 1798 as "more of a palace than a dwelling of an American merchant" and in the same year was valued at $30,000, making it one of the two most valuable private houses in the country. It only stood completed for sixteen years and in 1815 was demolished to make way for a new town hall (Lahikainen, p. 219; Joseph Downs, "Derby and McIntire," Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (October 1947), pp. 73-80; for the other chairs from the same set, see Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period (New York, 1966), pp. 76-77, cat. 15; Richard H. Randall, American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1965), pp. 205, 207, cat. 166; Edwin J. Hipkiss, Eighteenth Century American Arts: The M. and M. Karolik Collection (Cambridge, MA, 1941), pp. 156-157, cat. 92). While it is possible that the chairs represented by the chair offered here may have been commissioned for the earlier house and later moved to the Mansion, it is much more likely that they were made expressly for the Mansion as part of McIntire's elaborate furnishing scheme. The basket of fruit and foliage in the base of the splat, probably the most famous image of McIntire's oeuvre, is also seen in the same position on chairs McIntire made for John and Sarah Fiske in 1791, suggesting that this set may have been made around the same time (Lahikainen, pp. 54, 231, fig. 3-8). However, the details of the urns, baskets and grapevines seen on this set of chairs so closely resemble McIntire's sketches for the Mansion, which he began in 1794, that it is likely he designed the chairs to complement the interiors. As discussed by Lahikainen, the grapevine carving on the front legs display leaves with stems that extend the length of each leaf. This feature, a refinement that entailed more work for the carver, is seen in McIntire's 1796 sketch for the interior paneling of the oval dining room in the Derby Mansion (fig. 2). "Extended-stem" leaf carving is seen on only a few other pieces carved by McIntire, an urn stand, commode, sofa and window seat, all of which were probably made around the same time and may have been part of the same commission for the Derbys. In contrast, McIntire's grapevine carving that dates to after 1800 lacks the longer stems. Though the basket of fruit and foliage at the base of the chair's splat was a favored motif seen on many of his commissions, McIntire included similar baskets in his sketches for the door friezes of the northwest parlor of the mansion, possibly another means of unifying interior architecture and furniture through ornament. Furthermore, the urn at the center of the chair's splat, which was an adaptation of McIntire's from Hepplewhite sources, bears draped festoons similar to the urns with festoons or swags on the roof balustrade as depicted by McIntire in his sketch for the front elevation of the Derby Mansion. Lahikainen, pp. 220, 223, 228, figs. 5-7, 5-21). Of the three surviving examples of sets of mahogany chairs made by McIntire for the Derby family, Lahikainen argues that the set represented by this chair appears in the 1799 inventory of the Derby Mansion and was later acquired by Elias' and Elizabeth's daughter, Elizabeth Derby West (1762-1814), for the furnishing of her renowned estate, Oak Hill. The 1799 inventory lists three sets of mahogany chairs, each a set of eight: Those upholstered in green silk, valued at $40, in the 2nd floor southeast chamber (master bedroom); those valued at $80, in the 1st floor southeast parlor (less formal dining room); those valued at $80 in the 2nd floor northwest front room (guest chamber). Referred to as "set B" by Lahikainen, this set of chairs was most likely either the set in the master bedroom or the dining parlor and later the same year purchased for $80 by Elizabeth Derby West (Lahikainen, pp. 223, 225-226, 231, 267, fn. 47). Later known as Madame Derby after her contentious divorce in 1806, Elizabeth Derby West followed in her mother's footsteps and patronized Samuel McIntire to create a grand residence with lavish and harmonious interiors. Like the Mansion, Oak Hill had many decorative details seen on this set of chairs. Baskets similar to those at the base of the splat adorn the door friezes of the Oak Hill parlor, and related urns with festoons appear on the magnificent chest-on-chest made for Elizabeth Derby's bedchamber, which like much of the interior woodwork of Oak Hill is now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Lahikainen, p. 244, fig. 5-56). Furthermore, another set of chairs, referred to as "set C" by Lahikainen, were most likely made for Oak Hill and display very similar grapevine carving, though lacking the extended stems (Lahikainen, p. 240). Supporting the likelihood that this set of chairs furnished Oak Hill, two of the chairs from the same original set and now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston are noted to have been owned by Elizabeth Derby West and inherited by her descendant, Martha C. Codman (Mrs. Maxim Karolik) (Randall, p. 207). Provenance Elias Hasket (1739-1799) and Elizabeth Crowninshield (1736-1799) Derby, Salem, circa 1790-1799 Probably Elizabeth Derby West (1762-1814), Oak Hill, South Danvers (now Peabody), Massachusetts, 1799, daughter Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $30,000-$50,000 Price Realized: $662,500 | |
| A WILLIAM AND MARY MAHOGANY AND CEDAR DRESSING TABLE, PHILADELPHIA, 1715-1725, 30 in. high, 34 in. wide, 20½ in. deep. Made of mahogany and surviving in impeccable condition, this William and Mary dressing table illustrates Philadelphia craftsmanship at its best during the early decades of the eighteenth century. Its china stand and conical drops are original and remarkable survivals from the era. Made of walnut and seemingly varying otherwise only in the shaping of the center of the skirt, a nearly identical table is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Indicative of the significance of this model, the Philadelphia Museum's example was featured on the cover of Worldly Goods (Jack L. Lindsey, Worldly Goods: The Arts of Early Pennsylvania, 1680-1758 (Philadelphia, 1999), cover, pp. 90, 144, no. 50, fig. 135). Unusual details include the feet, which are turned from cedar instead of mahogany, as seen on the rest of the table's primary woods. Provenance Philip Bradley Antiques, Downingtown, Pennsylvania The Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Donald A. Shelley Pook & Pook, Downingtown, Pennsylvania, The Pioneer Americana Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Donald A. Shelley, 20-21 April 2007, lot 747 Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $150,000-$300,000 Price Realized: $482,500 | |
| A CHIPPENDALE CARVED CHERRYWOOD SPICE CABINET, PROBABLY MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CIRCA 1765, 41 in. high, 17¼ in. wide, 11½ in. deep. Combining rarity of form with pristine condition, this spice cabinet is an exceptional example of Pennsylvania cabinetmaking from the eighteenth century. The bonnet top, finials and rosettes emulate contemporaneous Philadelphia case pieces, but their inventive execution along with the idiosyncratic stop-fluting on the interior suggest that the maker was working outside the city. Another example with seemingly identical proportions, rosettes and feet but with a drawer in the tympanum and door with rectangular inset panel appears to be from the same shop (William MacPherson Hornor, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (1935), pl. 56). Very few other bonnet-top spice cabinets from Pennsylvania are known, and for three other examples see David B. Warren, Bayou Bend: American Furniture, Paintings and Silver from the Bayou Bend Collection (Houston, TX, 1975), p. 37, cat. 72; Sotheby's, New York, 28-31 January 1994, lot 1298 and 13 October 2000, lot 305. Provenance Collection of S. H. Du Pont Walter Morrison Jeffords, Sr. (1883-1960), Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania Walter Morrison Jeffords, Jr. (1915-1990), son Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords (Kathleen McLaughlin) (d. 2003), wife Sold, Sotheby's, New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords, vol. II, 28-29 October 2004, lot 340 Literature David H. Stockwell, "The Spice Cabinet of Pennsylvania and New Jersey," Philadelphia Furniture & Its Makers, John Snyder, ed. (New York, 1975), p. 23, fig. 4. Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $50,000-$100,000 Price Realized: $182,500 | |
| A JOINED AND PAINTED OAK CARVED "SUNFLOWER" CHEST WITH TWO DRAWERS, POSSIBLY THE PETER BLIN (CIRCA 1640-1725) SHOP TRADITION, WETHERSFIELD AREA, CONNECTICUT, 1675-1710, 38¾ in. high, 48 in. wide, 21 in. deep With an old surface and much of its applied ornament intact, this chest is an exceptional example of the most popular form of "Sunflower" furniture. The "Sunflower" school of joinery flourished in central Connecticut during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and over eighty five examples are known today bearing the signature floral carving (once thought to be sunflowers, but now described as marigolds or stylized rosettes) as seen on this chest's central panel. Chests without drawers and with one drawer, cupboards and boxes were all made by this school, but accounting for the vast majority of surviving forms is the two-drawer chest (for a one-drawer example from the same collection, see fig. 1). Unlike most other survivals, however, the chest offered here is in excellent condition and has escaped the aggressive restoration seen on most other surviving forms today. With lids, feet and applied ornament all vulnerable to loss and damage, these parts are often restored or replaced and the original paintwork of red and black enhancing the geometric divisions has often been completely erased in an effort to reveal the oak graining or simply clean the exterior. The chest offered here is notable for the originality of its parts, especially the fragile applied turnings, and a surface that reflects the passage of time and benign neglect With its large number of surviving examples, innovative design and construction and widespread influence, the "Sunflower" school is one of the most significant groups of early American furniture. The earliest known example is a cupboard made for Rev. Joseph Rowlandson (1631-1678), who lost all his possessions in a Native American attack in Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1676 and moved to Wethersfield in 1677. He died there the following year, thus providing a 1677 or 1678 date for his "Sunflower" cupboard now at the Lancaster Public Library. Peter Blin (c.1640-1725), a French-speaking emigre, has long been associated with the production of "Sunflower" furniture as he arrived in Wethersfield in 1675, just prior to the production of the Rowlandson cupboard and his inventory included both joiner's and turner's tools, indicating he was able to make both the chests and their applied turned ornaments. Furthermore, Robert F. Trent argues that the flowers are marigolds, which had symbolic references in seventeenth-century France, and thus likely part of the decorative vocabulary of a craftsman of French heritage. The Blin attribution remains conjectural as the large number of surviving chests, though remarkably consistent in ornament and construction, were undoubtedly made in several shops-perhaps concurrently or by apprentices emulating the practices of a master. In addition, two closely related but stylistically earlier chests with all-over carving and lacking applied ornament were made in Windsor, Connecticut. These chests are possible antecedents, which would indicate that the "Sunflower" tradition was locally born, rather than introduced by an immigrant such as Blin. Illustrating the breadth and depth of the influence of the "Sunflower" tradition, related designs and construction techniques appear on a number of Hartford County forms as well as a group of painted chests from the Connecticut coast. For more on "Sunflower" furniture, see Philip Zea, catalogue entries, The Great River: Art and Society of the Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820 (Hartford, CT, 1985), cats. 78, 79, pp. 198-201; Susan Prendergast Schoelwer, "Connecticut Sunflower Furniture: A Familiar Form Reconsidered," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (Spring 1989), pp. 26-29; Robert F. Trent, catalogue entry, American Furniture with Related Decorative Arts, 1660-1830: The Milwaukee Art Museum and the Layton Art Collection, Gerald W.R. Ward, ed. (New York, 1991), pp. 37, 39; Martha H. Willoughby, "From Carved to Painted: Chests of Central and Coastal Connecticut, c. 1675-1725" (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, Delaware, 1994), pp. 14-76; Joshua W. Lane and Donald P. White III, Woodworkers of Windsor: A Connecticut Community of Craftsmen and Their World, 1635-1715 (Windsor, CT, 2003), pp. 60-61, 63, cats. 23, 25; Frances Gruber Safford, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: I. Early Colonial Period: The Seventeenth-Century and William and Mary Styles (New York, 2007), pp. 219-224. Provenance George and Estelle Farrel Goss, Middlebury and Guilford, Connecticut Christie's, New York, 2 June 1983, lot 367 Bernard and S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $60,000-$90,000 Price Realized: $482,500 | |
| A CARVED AND PAINTED OAK "HADLEY" CHEST WITH TWO DRAWERS, HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, 1700-1725, 44 in. high, 45½ in. wide, 19¾ in. deep Surviving in pristine condition and exhibiting the rare two-drawer form, this Hadley chest is an exceptional example of one of the most celebrated groups of early American furniture. Richly carved and brightly painted, such chests would have been vibrant additions to an early eighteenth-century home, but few retain their original paint seen on the example offered here. Since the writings of Henry Wood Erving in 1883, Hadley chests have been extensively acclaimed, examined and reinterpreted and their histories and workmanship continue to provide an abundance of evidence for scholarly investigations. Defined by the use of tulip and vine template, Hadley forms were made along the Connecticut River Valley, from Suffield and Enfield to Northfield, then all part of Hampshire County, Massachusetts from the late seventeenth century through the first few decades of the eighteenth. Named after an example found in Hadley, Massachusetts, the center of production of the type illustrated by the chest offered here appears to have been the Hadley-Hatfield-Deerfield area. According to the latest estimates approximately 250 examples survive today, making the Hadley forms the largest group of American joined furniture. For more on Hadley chests, see Clair Franklin Luther,The Hadley Chest (Hartford, 1935); Patricia E. Kane, "The Seventeenth-Century Furniture of the Connecticut Valley: The Hadley Chest Reappraised," Arts of the Anglo-American Community in the Seventeenth Century, Ian M. G. Quimby, ed. (Winterthur, Delaware, 1975); Philip Zea and Suzanne L. Flynt, Hadley Chests (Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1992); Frances Gruber Safford, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I Early Colonial Period (New York, 2007), pp. 227-232; Susan L. Buck, "Early Polychrome Chests from Hadley, Massachusetts: A Technical Investigation of Their Paint and Finish," American Furniture 2009, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2009). Like most Hadley chests, this example was made for a young woman prior to marriage and thus the chest's initials, LM, refer to her maiden name. Genealogical research reveals three women with these initials born in Hampshire County, Massachusetts between 1680 and 1720: Lydia Moore, Lydia Morton and Lydia Moseley. Lydia Moore (1715/16-1761), of Northfield, was the daughter of Benoni (1669-1753) and Mehitable Allis (1677-1757) and married Colonel Eleazer Patterson (b. 1716) in 1736. Her maternal grandfather, Samuel Allis (1647-1691), along with his brother and nephews, John (1642-1691), John, Jr. (b. 1682) and Ichabod (1675-1747), were all woodworkers who have been associated with the production of Hadley chests (see Ethel Hall Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America (New York, 1957), pp. 24-27; The Patterson & Pattison family association: a contribution of genealogical records to old in the research on the names of Patterson (1963), available at ancestry.com). Lydia Morton (1715-1800) was born in Hatfield, the daughter of Ebenezer (1682-1760) and Sarah Belding (1687-1749) and married Joseph Bardwell (b. 1712/13-1791) in 1735. Her mother's grandfather and uncle, Samuel Belding, Sr. (1633-1713) and Samuel Belding, Jr. (1657-1737) were furniture makers allied with the Allis family and also proposed makers of Hadley chests (Bjerkoe, pp. 39-40; James William Hook, comp., Lieut. Samuel Smith His Children and One Line of Descendants (n.d.), pp. 181, 182, 257, 258). The third woman with the initials LM born during this era in Hampshire County was Lydia Moseley (1714/15 or 1716-1787). She was the daughter of Lieutenant Consider Moseley (1675-1755) and Elizabeth Bancroft (b. 1682) of Westfield, Massachusetts, her father noted to have been one of the most prosperous and influential residents of the town. In 1734, she married Israel Dewey (1712/13-1773), a successful farmer and miller and the family later moved to Great Barrington, Massachusetts (Rev. John H. Lockwood, Westfield and Its Historic Influences 1669-1919, vol. 1 (Printed by the author, c.1922), p. 384; Benjamin W. Dwight, Elder John Strong of Northampton, Mass., vol. 1 (Albany, New York, 1871), p. 371). The chest was owned by Mrs. William E. Wheelock when Clair Franklin Luther examined the piece in 1933. She was born Emily Charlotte Hall (1861-1938) and in 1885 married William Efner Wheelock (1852-1926) (fig.1), a noted collector of American antiques. Luther recorded that the chest was "From Connecticut, cir. 1890," indicating that Wheelock acquired the chest in Connecticut around this time. Though known for collecting in the vicinity of East Hampton, his summer residence, Wheelock certainly ventured further a field and in addition to the chest offered here, owned another Hadley chest, which he purchased about ten years earlier also in Connecticut (Luther, pp. 75, 138, nos. 17, 51). The son of a wealthy banker, Wheelock graduated Yale University in 1873 and his career was a series of ventures in the fields of medicine, law and botany. Upon the building of his summer house in East Hampton in 1891, Wheelock sought to furnish the interiors with early New England furniture and in addition to two Hadley chests, his collection included a variety of forms primarily from Eastern Long Island and Connecticut. While the chest offered here passed to his son, the noted poet John Hall Wheelock (1886-1978) who sold it at auction in 1942, the bulk of Wheelock's collection was given by his son to the East Hampton Historical Society in 1977 (Jay A. Graybeal and Peter M. Kenny, "The William Efner Wheelock collection at the East Hampton Historical Society," The Magazine Antiques (August 1987), pp. 328-339. Since its sale in 1942, the chest has been part of two prominent New England collections: Those assembled by a private family in Old Lyme, Connecticut and Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson of Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. Provenance Dr. William Efner Wheelock (1852-1926), Morristown, New Jersey, New York City and East Hampton, New York, circa 1890?Mrs. William E. Wheelock (nee Emily Charlotte Hall) (1861-1938), wife?John Hall Wheelock (1886-1978), New York City and East Hampton, son?Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 1-2 May 1942, lot 450?A Private Collection, Old Lyme, Connecticut?Christie's New York, 2 June 1990, lot 188?Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson, Hampton Falls, New Hampshire?Christie's New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson, 27-28 January 1995, lot 1028 Literature Clair Franklin Luther, The Hadley Chest (Hartford, 1935), p. 138, no. 51.?Patricia E. Kane, "The Seventeenth-Century Furniture of the Connecticut Valley: The Hadley Chest Reappraised," Arts of the Anglo-American Community in the Seventeenth Century, Ian M. G. Quimby, ed. (Winterthur, Delaware, 1975), p. 118, no. 111. Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $60,000-$90,000 Price Realized: $482,500 | |
| THE CATHERINE GODDARD CHIPPENDALE BLOCK-AND-SHELL CARVED AND FIGURED MAHOGANY BUREAU TABLE, ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN GODDARD (1724-1785), NEWPORT, CIRCA 1765, The proper left center drawer with an old pencil inscription: Made the pea.. [piece?] 7 of May; bears a handwritten label reading, JOHN GODDARD, Cabinet maker born died 1785. married HANNAH about 1746. CATHERINE, born April 10, 1757. died March 24, 1816. THOMAS, born April 2, 1765. died July 24, 1858. John Goddard made the desk for his daughter Catherine Goddard, who married Perry Weaver. Their son Benjamin Weaver married Hannah Briggs, who inherited the desk, and gave it to her sister Deborah Briggs. She left it to Mary Briggs Weaver, daughter of Hannah Briggs, and she left it to Mary Briggs Weaver Case, 31½ in. high, 35¼ in. wide, 19½ in. deep Masterfully designed and crafted, this bureau table is an outstanding example of Newport's celebrated block-and-shell furniture and with a provenance in the family of John Goddard (1724-1785), stands as a rare and critical document of the work of one of early America's most renowned cabinetmakers. The bureau table was recorded as being made by John Goddard three generations after it was made, an assertion not only supported by its descent in the cabinetmaker's family but also by its similarity to other surviving pieces attributed to Goddard. The carved shells on this bureau share a number of details with those on a block-and-shell desk and bookcase that descended in the Lisle family and is now at the Rhode Island School of Design. Reading Made by John Goddard 1761 and repaired by Thomas Goddard his son 1813, an inscription on the desk written by John's son Thomas reveals that he "clearly took pride in his father's accomplishment and sought to perpetuate its record for posterity" (Brock Jobe, "The Lisle Desk-and-Bookcase: A Rhode Island Icon," American Furniture 2001 (Milwaukee, WI, 2001), p. 122). As noted by Michael Moses, the shells on the Lisle desk and the bureau offered here both feature shells with "flattened articulation," an odd number of lobes on both the convex and concave examples and cross-hatching under the petals of the shells' interiors on the convex shells. Furthermore, this bureau features construction practices seen on slant-front desks made by Goddard. These practices comprise drawer bottoms affixed to the undersides of the sides and backs and fitting into grooves in the fronts and two lipped backboards attached with rosehead nails to recesses in the case sides (Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, NJ, 1984), p. 212). For a bureau table attributed to Goddard on the basis of the example offered here, see Christie's New York, 18-19 January, 2007, lot 593. The label on the bureau notes that John Goddard made the bureau for his daughter, Catherine (1757-1816). As the piece dates to circa 1765 and Catherine married Perry Weaver in 1778, the bureau was made prior to her marriage and either made expressly for her when she was just a child or given as a wedding present well after it was made. A tea table in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is also reputed to have been made by Goddard for his daughter Catherine. See Edwin J. Hipkiss, Eighteenth-Century American Arts: The M. and M. Karolik Collection (Cambridge, MA, 1941), pp. 110-111, no. 59. The bureau descended in the Weaver family and though passing laterally a couple times, ended up with Mary Briggs (Weaver) Case (b. 1852), John Goddard's great-great granddaughter, the last family member to own the piece. She sold the bureau to George Vernon & Company, an antiques firm in Newport and while it was in his shop, his employee, Jonas Bergner drew a sketch of the piece, noted details and measurements of the component parts and recorded its family history. Discussing the brasses, Bergner reiterated the attribution to John Goddard by noting that the large size of the hardware "gave the solid and dignified touch that is so admired in Mr. Goddard's work" (Jonas Bergner, Day Book (unpublished, in the collection of the Redwood Library, Newport), pp. 46-47). Provenance As indicated by a label in the top drawer: Catherine (Goddard) Weaver (1757-1816), Newport Benjamin Weaver (1781-1863), Middletown, Rhode Island, son Deborah Briggs (1787-1856), sister-in-law Mary Briggs Weaver (1814-1899), niece of above and daughter of Benjamin, above Mary Briggs (Weaver) Case (b. 1852), niece of above George E. Vernon, Newport, 1921, by purchase from above Mr. and Mrs. John Nicholas Brown, Providence, Rhode Island, 1924, by purchase from above Thence by descent in the family Sold, Sotheby's, New York, 23 January 2005, lot 1203 Literature Walter A. Dyer, "John Goddard and His Block Fronts," The Magazine Antiques (May 1922), p. 203, fig. 2 Jonas Bergner, Day Book (unpublished, in the collection of the Redwood Library, Newport), pp. 46-47. "Four Centuries of Furniture with Flowers," The Magazine Antiques (July 1946), p. 33.?The Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, object number RIF635. Exhibited New York, New York, Four Centuries of Furniture with Flowers (Rhode Island Exhibit, Garden Club of America Annual Flower Show), March 1946. Providence, Rhode Island, The Nightingale-Brown House, site of The John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization, Brown University, 1985 to 1987, 1993 to 2004. Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $700,000-$900,000 Price Realized: $5,682,500 | |
| PAUL REVERE (1734-1818), The Bloody Massacre (Brigham, Plate 14)engraving with hand-coloring, 1770, the hands of the clock reading 10:20 (Brigham calls for a later varient altered to reflect the more accurate time of 8:00), on laid paper watermark W, framed, P. 9¾ x 8¾ in., S. 10 3/8 x 9 in. Among the most recognized and important early American prints, Paul Revere's The Bloody Massacre is one of three nearly identical portrayals of the pivotal event of March 5th 1770, the others produced by Henry Pelham and Jonathan Mulliken. Revere was the first to publicly distribute the depiction; however, he was not the original draftsman of the composition. Revere's engraving was advertised for sale in the March 26th editions of the Boston Evening Post and the Boston Gazette with the following explanation: "A Print, containing a Representation of the late horrid Massacre in King-street." Two days later Revere noted in his Day Book that he paid the printer/publisher Edes & Gill to produce 200 impressions. Pelham's depiction appeared for sale in the same publications a week later-on April 2nd-with the headline "The Fruits of Arbitrary Power: An Original Print, representing the late horrid Massacre in Kingstreet, taken on the Spot." Pelham had apparently consulted with Revere in confidence on his drawing of the event shortly after the massacre occurred. In a letter dated March 29th Pelham expressed outrage at what he considered a breach of friendship and trust, stating: "If you are insensible of the Dishonour you have brought on yourself by this Act, the World will not be so." There is no record that Revere responded to this accusation; regardless of how the dispute between the two men was finally resolved, as Clarence S. Brigham states in his quintessential Paul Revere's Engravings, "Certain it is that Revere was an outstanding patriot and saw the opportunity of furthering the patriot cause by circulating so significant a print." Revere is most famous for his midnight ride, warning his fellow patriots of British advancement before what would be the battles of Lexington and Concord. It was through speed and simplicity that information was most effectively distributed and this approach is what made Revere's Massacre the most successful. Revere was a silversmith by trade, which posed a natural segue to copper engraving. Engraving was foremost a utilitarian medium, the quickest and most effective means of illustrating an event, and one in which copying and sharing was standard practice. Draftsmanship is not what makes his depiction so compelling, it is through this awkward and humble craft that the frenetic energy of the historic event is encapsulated. This depiction, more than any other, remains the strongest reminder of the decisive time when Revolutionary passions were focused on furthering the case for American independence. The hasty coloring of the engravings-which is apparent in their variation and rather unsophisticated handling-corresponds with the fervor and energy of the cause. The jackets of the British troops and the blood of the citizens-rendered in violent red-are the only details which remain consistent between the various impressions. Revere's Massacre relayed a message of opposition to the British occupation and served as propaganda for the anti-British cause. This politically charged depiction of the event-one of the most significant events in the quest for American independence-illustrates through its modest yet urgent handling, the beginning of a uniquely American visual ideology. Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Provenance Ink inscriptions on the reverse TJ? and Willim Property from a Massachusetts Family Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $80,000-$120,000 Price Realized: $116,500 | |
| HENRY YOUNG, DATED 1795, A Birth Certificate for George Hofer of Buffalo Township, Unity County, Pennsylvania, watercolor and ink on paper, 13¼ x 8½ in. Provenance Descended in the Family of George Hofer?Sold, Sotheby's, New York 22 October 1988, lot 127?David Wheatcroft Antiques, Westborough, Massachusetts, 1995 Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $5,000-$8,000 Price Realized: $13,750 | |
| JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY (1738-1815), Samuel Barrett, the reverse bears an old, partially legible pencil inscription: Samuel Barrett XXX from 1738 and died August 2? 1798 when 60 years XXX XXX of yellow fever then very revalent in Boston. He married Elizabeth Salisbury XXX his second wife, oil on copper, 5¼ x 4½ in. Dated to circa 1765-1770, the present lot is a rare and intimate example of John Singleton Copley's portraiture in miniature. Painted in oil on copper, it is one of only a small number of portraits executed in this medium in Boston before Copley immigrated to London in 1774. The sitter, Samuel Barrett, was a prominent Boston lawyer and Copley's brother-in-law. Barrett graduated from Harvard University in 1757 and, after receiving a law degree from Yale in 1760, married Mary Clarke, the eldest daughter of a wealthy Boston merchant, in 1761. Copley wed Mary Clarke's sister, Susanna, in 1769. During his engagement, Copley executed this portrait miniature and an oil on copper miniature of Mary Clarke Barrett, presumably as a pair. Provenance George B. Foster, Montreal Literature J.D. Prown, John Singleton Copley: In America 1738-1774 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1966), vol. I, p. 208, fig. 246. Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $20,000-$40,000 Price Realized: $386,500 | |
| JOHANNES BARD, CIRCA 1830, A Birth Certificate for David Palmer, Adams County, Pennsylvania, watercolor and ink on paper, 14½ x 17 in. Provenance David Wheatcroft Antiques, Westborough, Massachusetts, 1996 Sold at Christie's January 21, 2011. Estimate: $12,000-$18,000 Price Realized: $25,000 | |
| A VERY FINE AND RARE CHIPPENDALE CARVED AND FIGURED MAHOGANY GAMES TABLE, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, CIRCA 1770, Appears to retain its original ornate fire gilt cast brass hardware. Table was not designed or made with corner leg brackets. Retains a dark rich surface, height height 29 1/2 in. by width 37 in. by depth 18 in. Made of choice mahogany and retaining its original brasses, this card table is a handsome example of Marlborough-leg furniture from Colonial Philadelphia. The Philadelphia cabinetmaker's price book listed mahogany card tables similar to this one with Marlborough legs, bases, brackets, carved moldings and a drawer at the price of £4. Thomas Chippendale published patterns incorporating Marlborough legs in The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director, with this table inspired by designs for chairs illustrated in plates XXV-XXVIII and sideboard tables illustrated as plates LVII-LVIII. Philadelphia furniture with Marlborough legs and fretwork carving is associated with the work of the Scottish-born cabinetmaker, Thomas Affleck (1740-1795), who made an elaborate set of upholstered armchairs with Marlborough legs ornamented with Gothic fretwork for Governor John Penn (1729-1795) in 1766. For the Penn commission, Affleck closely followed Chippendale's design for "French Chairs" published as plate 19 of the 1762 edition, even going so far as to place a molding over the upholstered seat rails for "a good Effect." Of the few examples of this form known today, all are made of mahogany, with a fold-over top, straight rails, gadrooning, and Marlborough legs; most have a drawer and carved fretwork on the legs. One in the collection of Bayou Bend without a drawer represents a more fully developed example of its type, with both Chinese and Gothic designs incorporated into the fretwork adorning its rail and legs. One at the Henry Ford Museum also with gadrooning and Marlborough legs overlaid with Gothic fretwork displays the additional detail of carved guilloche on the folding top. One at Yale University similarly features a drawer, gadrooning and brackets but is otherwise plain. Two examples with plain Marlborough legs are published by Hornor as from the respective collections of Mrs. and Mrs. Robert Wood and Miss Emily Wister. Another card table of this type from the collection of Dr. William S. Serri has been published in The Magazine Antiques. A side chair offered as lot 8 in this sale with a history in the Penn family exhibits related Marlborough legs with carved fretwork. PROVENANCE Joseph Kindig, Sr., York, Pennsylvania; A Virginia Family; Sold at Sotheby's January 22, 2011 Estimate: $80,000-$160,000 Realized Price: $98,500 | |
| PROPERTY OF NEW ENGLAND PRIVATE COLLECTOR AMMI PHILLIPS (1788-1865), PORTRAIT OF A ROSY CHEEKED YOUNG GIRL IN A PINK DRESS, A paper label attached to the stretcher states: Given to Blanche B. Pratt by Bruce Buttford in 1930. Primitive – called in family "Hannah Standish," oil on canvas, 31 in. by 25 in. A paper label attached to the stretcher states: Given to Blanche B. Pratt by Bruce Buttford in 1930. Primitive – called in family "Hannah Standish." Painted circa 1832 LITERATURE AND REFERENCES The Salisbury portrait is illustrated and discussed in Revisiting Ammi Phillips; Fifty Years of American Portraiture by Stacy Hollander, curator, Howard P. Fertig, research curator, New York, 1994, p. 41, PL XXXVIII. NOTE A closely related portrait of a child with dark hair, wearing a pink dress, painted by Phillips, circa 1832, is in the Edward Duff Balken Collection of American Folk Art at Princeton University, and is illustrated and discussed in Charlotte Emans, A Window into Collecting American Folk Art: The Edward Duff Balken Collection at Princeton, 2000, pp. 59-61. Another comparable portrait is that of James Mairs Salisbury of Greene County, New York, painted circa 1835, now in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum, New York. Both Salisbury and the Balken collection portrait at Princeton University are part of a series of portraits of seated children in red costumes painted by Phillips from 1830 to 1835. The present example has the additional detail of senuous piping on the waistband and deep points on the collar and sleeve. Sold at Sotheby's January 22, 2011 Estimate: $175,000-$225,000 Realized Price: $290,500 | |
| PROPERTY OF A WELLS FAMILY DESCENDANT THE WELLS FAMILY DIMINUTIVE CHIPPENDALE CARVED MAHOGANY MIXING TABLE, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1765, height 26 5/8 in. by width 29 3/8 in. by depth 19 1/2 in. Marble top and four knee returns replaced. A MESDA lable affixed to inside face of top rail. PROVENANCE Descended through the Wells family of New York and New Jersey Further provenance will be made available to the purchaser Sold at Sotheby's January 22, 2011 Estimate: $30,000-$70,000 Realized Price: $230,500 | |
| PROPERTY OF A MASSACHUSETTS FAMILY A VERY FINE FEDERAL FLAME BIRCHWOOD-VENEERED AND IVORY-INLAID MAHOGANY DRESSING TABLE,, ATTRIBUTED TO JUDKINS AND SENTER, PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, CIRCA 1805 Appears to retain its original hardware. Retains a dry early surface, height 39 in. by width 43 in. by depth 21 in. PROVENANCE A letter from the consignor states the following: This dressing table was gifted to me by my mother in the year 2000. It was purchased at some time by a member of the Parsons Family of Maine and before that, of Northampton , Massachusetts , from whom I am descended. My great grandmother Mary Parsons Hogan (1867-1945) was a great collector. She was the grand-daughter of Charles Parsons (1829-1904) who owned large tracks of land in southern Maine; including the towns of Alfred, Sanford, and the Kennebunk. Mary P. Hogan's husband was Jefferson Hogan and he was a ship captain with the Red Star Line, who were the importing/exporting side of the Kunard Liners (famously, the Titanic was the White Star Line and my great-grandfather was a good friend of Capt. Edward John Smith). Charles' brother George Parsons donated the free library in Kennebunk and the Henry Parsons Way on the water, across from the famed St. Ann's Episcopal Church. Parsons Beach in Kennebunk has been in the Parsons family exclusively since Charles bought the land in 1873. Charles was a direct descendent of Cornet Joseph Parsons (descended of Sir John Parsons of Hereford , England , nee 1481). A great resource documenting the Parsons family is a William Parsons book The Parsons Family at Crescent Surf, (Sanford, ME: Edison Press, 1992). He writes on page six that Cornet Joseph Parsons "...was one of the original settlers who colonized Springfield, Massachusetts. He was a man of some prominence and was elected town surveyor and selectman ... A house built by him in 1658 is still standing in Northampton and is the oldest house in that city." Sarah Llewellyn Parsons Alden December 4, 2010 Sold at Sotheby's January 22, 2011 Estimate: $15,000-$30,000 Realized Price: $278,500 | |
| PROPERTY DESCENDED IN A PROMINENT BOSTON FAMILY AN UNUSUAL AMERICAN SILVER TEAPOT ENGRAVED WITH HUNTERS IN A LANDSCAPE, JACOB HURD, BOSTON, CIRCA 1750, of inverted pear form on stepped circular foot and with partly faceted S-form spout, engraved on one side with contemporary arms in a rococo shellwork cartouche surrounded by scrolling foliage and panels of trellis, all surmounted by a fox head crest, opposite side with script initial P, the top of the pot and hinged cover finely engraved with a landscape of a village and fox hunting scenes including two houses, ducks swimming in a pond, a farmer smoking a pipe, running stags, boars, dogs, and two hunters on horseback pursuing foxes, one hunter with horn proclaiming: " the hounds are all out a ho ho ho", topped by a wood knop finial with engraved silver bud, marked twice on base HURD in rectangle (Kane mark D) and scratched ?Nillis 20 oz "3 " 0, length 9 3/4 in. PROVENANCE The arms are those of Foxcroft, probably for Judge Francis Foxcroft, son of Francis Foxcroft, warden of King's Chapel and Elizabeth Danforth, daughter of Governor Danforth. He married Mehitable Coney, daughter of John Coney, the famous goldsmith. The teapot is engraved with the slightly later script initial P, almost certainly for their daughter Phoebe Foxcroft (1743-1812), who, on 12 July 1773, married Samuel Phillips, Jr (1743-1802), later Lt. Governor and founder of Phillips Academy, Andover MA. Samuel's parents' initials P/S*E appear on the Hurd porringer from the same collection, lot 171 in this sale. Among the highly characterful engraving on the top of the teapot appears a house with a pediment enclosing a running fox as a rebus on the family name. Sold at Sotheby's January 22, 2011 Estimate: $70,000-$100,000 Realized Price: $278,500 | |
| PROPERTY OF A NEW ENGLAND COLLECTOR THE IMPORTANT TRASK FAMILY PILGRIM CENTURY OAK, MAPLE AND WALNUT CHEST WITH DRAWER, ATTRIBUTED TO THE SYMONDS SHOP, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, PROBABLY JAMES SYMONDS, CIRCA 1690, Several moldings replaced, height 29 1/2 in. by width 47 1/4 in. by depth 21 1/2 in. PROVENANCE William Trask II (1640-1691) or his son, John Trask (1678-1737), both of Salem Village (now Danvers);?William Trask III (1702-1748), son of John;?William Trask IV (1744-1806), son;?Martha (Trask) Bullock (1777-1866), daughter;?Isaac Bullock (1800-1870), son;?William Blake Trask (1812-1906), first cousin;?New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts;?Sotheby's New York, Important Americana, January 25, 1990, sale 5968, lot 1243;?Israel Sack In., New York;?Sotheby's New York, Selections from Israel Sack, inc., January 20. 2002, sale 7761, lot 1380 EXHIBITED The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, 1870 and 1912-after 1968 (loan no. 931.12) LITERATURE AND REFERENCES William Blake Trask(e), "Captian William Traske and Some of His Decendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. LV (July 1901), pp. 321-338;?Benno M. Forman, The Seventeenth Century Case Furniture of Essex County, Massachusetts and Its Makers, (Newark, DE: MA thesis, University of Delaware, 1968), pp. 108-110, cat. III; ?Benno M. Forman, "The Osborne Family Chest Re-Discovered," Historical New Hampshire 26, no. 1 (Spring 1971): 27–30, fig 2.;?Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, vol. 10, p. 2544, P6264;?Christie's New York, The Joseph and Bathsheba Pope Valuables Cabinet, January 21, 2000, sale 9426, p. 21. The chest is discussed but not illustrated;?Willoughby, Martha H. "Patronage in Early Salem: The Symonds Shops and Their Customers." American Furniture, (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 2000), p. 171-2, 175, figs. 5 and 6;?Israel Sack, Inc., advertisement, Magazine Antiques, (May 2001), inside front cover. The Trask chest is part of an important group of joined case furniture attributed to the Symonds shop of Salem, Massachusetts. Identified by Benno Forman, "the Salem School" was founded by John Symonds an imigrant from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. This chest is remarkable in its excellent preservation and tremendous provenance. Rarely does a 'Pilgrim centry' piece appear on the market place that remains in such undisturbed condition and retains its early family provenance. Sold at Sotheby's January 22, 2011 Estimate: $30,000-$60,000 Realized Price: $37,500 | |
| PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR THE IMPORTANT SEARLS FAMILY CHIPPENDALE HIGHLY INLAID CHERRYWOOD AND MAHOGANY CHEST OF DRAWERS, ATTRIBUTED TO NATHAN LOMBARD, SUTTON, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1800 Underside of top drawer inscribed in graphite Ebenezer Howard of Sturbridge. An exuberant New England interpretation of the Federal style, this serpentine cherrywood chest of drawers epitomizes the height of workmanship in rural Massachusetts. Few other comparable American chests are known with a shaped form and ambitious inlaid decoration of this exceptional quality. Similar flamboyant inlaid decoration and construction practice is found in the work of Nathan Lombard (1777-1847), a cabinetmaker working in the Sutton area of Massachusetts. Born in 1777 in Brimfield, this highly skilled and creative craftsman may have apprenticed to a local cabinetmaker before establishing a business in 1798 in Brimfield. He married Delight Allen in Sturbridge in 1802 and they moved to Sutton soon after. As exhibited on a chest of drawers with his signature and the date April 20, 1800, this chest displays a serpentine façade, thick cherry veneer, chevron stringing, drawers with cherry cockbeading, feet combining C-scrolls, spurs and cusps, and a narrow strip of cherry attached to the back edge of the case top. Similar strips occur on many examples of Lombard's work, including on a sideboard that sold in these rooms, The Property of Dr. and Mrs. Henry C. Landon III, January 24, 2009, sale 8513, lot 68.This chest has the signature of Ebenezer Howard (1781-1854), a cabinetmaker of Sturbridge who appears to have worked with Lombard for a period of time, perhaps as an apprentice or journeyman. Ebenezer was born in Sturbridge in 1781 and married there in 1802. He signed other furniture attributed to Lombard, including a serpentine cherrywood chest in a private collection similar to the one offered here. A candlestand at Yale University attributed to Lombard bears an inscription "EH 1801" that may also refer to him. Five serpentine cherrywood chests are closely related to the one signed by Lombard. One belonged to Ezra Allen (1773-1866), his wife's second cousin, and stood in the chamber of his farmhouse in Holland, Massachusetts. A second example in a private collection with identical feet and lightwood banding is cited by Jobe and Pearce but has never been published. A third one lacking banding and economizing on the chevron stringing sold at auction in 1987. Two additional chests are fitted with concave columns decorated with inlay and capped with carved leaves like those found on the present chest. One of the aforementioned examples also exhibits husk and dot inlay, leaves, and an inverted icicle on the concave columns. The multicolored urn and vine motif on the top of this chest is also known on a desk-and-bookcase at Winterthur Museum on a flat-top desk-and-bookcase at the Milwaukee Art Museum, both attributed to Lombard. This distinctive inlay also appears on the candlestand at Yale mentioned above with the inscription "EH 1801," possibly referring to Ebenezer Howard. When this chest was sold previously in 1999, it achieved the record price for a piece of Lombard furniture. PROVENANCE Descended in the Searls family, who were in Pomfret, Connecticut by 1846. Hon. Charles Edwin Searls of Thompson and Putnam was born in Pomfret in 1846 and graduated from Yale University before becoming an attorney. He represented Thompson in the General Assembly in 1871 and was elected Secretary of State in 1881. This piece was likely owned by his mother, Carol Matthewson Searls; Skinner, American Furniture and Decorative Arts, October 24, 1999, sale 1953, lot 124 EXHIBITED Skin Deep: Three Masters of American Inlaid Furniture, Milwaukee Art Museum, November 22, 2003 – March 2, 2003 LITERATURE AND REFERENCES David Hewett, "Skinner's Amereicana Sale Biggest Ever," Maine Antique Digest, December 1999. Sold at Sotheby's January 22, 2011 Estimate: $250,000-$700,000 Realized Price: $872,500 | |
| PROPERTY FROM A NEWELL FAMILY DESCENDANT THE BREWSTER-NEWELL FAMILY PILGRIM CENTURY JOINED AND CARVED OAK AND MAPLE 'SUNFLOWER' CHEST WITH DRAWERS, ATTRIBUTED TO THE SHOP OF PETER BLIN, WETHERSFIELD, CONNECTICUT, CIRCA 1680, Retains a significant portion of it is original turned half-columns and moldings. The original key survives with a tag inscribed Key to Old Brewster Chest June 1902. Interior of lid is inscribed S.P. Newell Bristol, Conn. A label affixed to the inside of the till lid states Exhibition Connecticut Tercentenary and Bristol Sesquicentennial Celebration, June 10-15, 1935 Owner Roger S. Newell. Lower six inches of feet restored, height 40 in. by width 48 1/4 in. by depth 21 1/2 in.. PROVENANCE Likely descended through the Brewster family to Elisha Brewster(1751-1798) who was born in Wethersfield; Elisha Curtis Brewster(1791-1881), born in Middletown, Connecticut, son;Martha Judd Brewster (1832-1905) wife of Samuel Pomeroy Newell (1823-1888), daughter;Elizabeth Naomi Newell (1856-1888) husband John Joseph Jennings (1855-1900), daughter; Newell Jennings (1883-1965) wife Rachel Kezia Peck (1883-1972), son;Elizabeth Newell Jennings (1911-1983), daughter;to the current consignors EXHIBITED Connecticut Tercentenary and Bristol Sesquicentennial Celebration, June 10-15, 1935, Morgan Memorial, Hartford, Connecticut NOTES This very well preserved joined chest with is well carved marigold and tulip panels and delicately turned applied half columns and bosses is part of a very well document group of early joined furniture made in the vicinity of Wethersfield, Connecticut between approximately 1675 to 1705. The group customarily called the "Sunflower" chests is most notable for its impressively carved panels with stylized tulips in the side panels and marigolds in the central panel. For decades these pieces have been attributed exclusively to the hand of Peter Blin (d. 1725). However the shear number of surviving pieces indicates that this decorative tradition survived for decades in and around the Wethersfield, Connecticut region and could not possibly be the work of one individual. What is more plausible is that the French-speaking immigrant joiner Peter Blin initiated this style and it was replicated by his apprentices or fellow local joiners. Further supporting the Wethersfield connection to this group is this chest's provenance that traces its history back to Wethersfield through the Brewster family. The overall form is apparently a unique American design as yet no direct antecedents have been found in England nor Europe. The exquisitely turned half columns both in large and small scale and the robust detailed carving demonstrate this group of joiners' exceptional skills. The currently offered chest is remarkable in that it retains nearly all of its original applied maple ornament, pine top, oak cleats and wrought iron key and lock. Quite commonly these applied decorations fall off because the nails and glue release their hold over time. For more on "Sunflower" furniture, see Dean A. Fales, The Furniture of Historic Deerfield, (New York, E.P. Dutton & Co., 1976), pp. 166-7; Jonathan Fairbanks and Robert Trent, New England Begins: 2 Mentality and Environment, (Boston, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1982), p.266-7; Walter A. Dyer, "The Tulip-and-Sunflower Press Cupboard," Magazine Antiques, (April 1935) reprinted in Robert F. Trent edited Pilgrim Century Furniture, (New York, Main Street/ Universe Books, 1976), pp. 122-5; Philip Zea, The Great River: Art and Society of the Connecticut Valley, 1635-1820 (Hartford, CT, 1985), cats. 78, 79, pp. 198-201; Susan Prendergast Schoelwer, "Connecticut Sunflower Furniture: A Familiar Form Reconsidered," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (Spring 1989), pp. 26-29; Robert F. Trent entry, American Furniture with Related Decorative Arts, 1660-1830: The Milwaukee Art Museum and the Layton Art Collection, (New York: Hudson Hill Press, 1991), pp. 37-9; Gerald W.R. Ward, American Case Furniture, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 1988), pp. 90-5, 379-85; Martha H. Willoughby, "From Carved to Painted: Chests of Central and Coastal Connecticut, c. 1675-1725" (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, DE, 1994), pp. 14-76; Joshua W. Lane and Donald P. White III, "Fashioning Furniture and Framing Communities: Woodworkers and the Rise of a Connecticut River Valley Town," Sold at Sotheby's January 22, 2011 Estimate: $30,000-$60,000 Realized Price: $56,250 |
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ref:T3-S24-P9011-C-M