Lot Essay
The only japanned bureau form known to survive from colonial America, this kneehole desk stands as a possibly unique testament of a late seventeenth and eighteenth century decorating craze that was responsible for some of the more revered furniture made in the colonies. This bureau is one of a small number of high chests, dressing tables, tall-clocks and mirrors that retain their original finish history and chinoiserie decoration of which most examples are now in museum collections.
The fascination with lacquered furniture from the Orient, called 'Japan-work' or 'Indian-work' by John Stalker and George Parker, authors of the definitive treatise on japanning in 1688, was outlined in the introduction to their book:
We have laid before you an Art very much admired by us,
and all those who hold any commerce with the inhabitants
of Japan; but that Island not being ale to furnish these
parts with work of this kind, the English and Frenchmen
have endeavored to imitate them;...now you may be stocked
with entire furniture....[and] If done by able hands, it may come so near the tru [sic] Japan...tht no one but an
Artist should be able to distinguish 'em [sic].'
A Treatise on Japanning and Varnishing (Oxford, England,
1688)
The popularity of Stalker and Parker's publication was so great that within a year it was already in its third edition (Fales, American Painted Furniture (New York, 1972, p. 60). The intrigue with the Orient continued and by the mid-eighteenth century there were numerous architectural and design pattern books that expressed and emphasized the Chinese taste. Among these was Robert Sayer's, The Ladie's Amusement, The Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy (London, 1762), in which he noted that 'The Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy (London, 1762), in which he noted that 'The Art of Japanning, and Decorating with various Designs, has prevailed so much of late from the superb Cabinet to the smallest Article.... [With] The Variety of Objects admitting almost infinite Combinations....' Influential throughout the latter eighteenth century and aimed at the novice artist, Sayer's book acknowledged the acceptance of the fashion within a broader sphere than Stalker and Parker's more technical work written over seventy years earlier.
Unable to obtain resin from the Oriental lac tree (Rhus vernicifera) because of its sensitivity to changes in climate, westerners imitated the appearance of this crucial ingredient of true Oriental lacquer-work by covering objects with layers of paint and varnish (Greg Landry, Conservation Division, Winterthur Museum). Colonial craftsmen who practiced the art of Japanning also reduced the time-consuming process from the thirty or forty steps involved to a simplified number of six or eight (Heckscher and Safford, 'Boston Japanned Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art' The Magazine Antiques (May 1986):1050). They were able to achieve similar effects as their English counterparts but in less time by japanning over maple and pine rather than oak which required layers of gesso to smooth over the grain and in addition they applied varnish over painted details rather than mixing colors into each layer of varnish (Fales, p. 59). The artist who japanned this bureau smoothed a skim coat of glue and chalk over the case which he then covered with layers of vermillion paint, a shellac and resin coat, daubs of Ivory Black paint in imitation of tortoise shell, another shellac and resin coat and then applied the decorative elements made of gypsum, which unlike gesso adhered well to the surface. The motifs are cast in place as on most other japanned pieces, and are covered with metallic shavings rather than gold or silver leaf. Fine details are painted over the gilding in vermillion, Ivory Black and verdigris; the decoration is painted rather than molded on the sides of the case as was typical in the period. A layer of Dragons Blood red was applied over the susrface to tone and darken the bureau which was then covered with a final layer of shellac and resin (Richard Wolpers, Paint Analysis Report, Winterthur Conservation Center).
The large, disproportionate figures that decorate the facade of this bureau suggest that it was japanned in the early Queen Anne period with closer visual ties to the chinoiserie furniture of the William and Mary era; the decoration on later Queen Anne pieces is usually comprised of smaller figures and painted in a more compact fussy manner.
Imported into Boston since the 1690s, japanned furniture soon became fashionable and surviving objects inform us that it was produced in the colonies by the turn of the century (Fales, p. 68). The earliest reference to colonial japanned furniture is a 1734 bill from William Randall of Boston who charged cabinetmaker Nathaniel Holmes for 'Japanning a Piddement [sic] Chest & Table Tortoiseshell & Gold' (Heckscher, p. 1051). Although japanned furniture was made in New York and Connecticut, Boston was the center of production in colonial America, possibly because the fashion for Chinoiserie furniture coincided with the commercial expansion of the city (Fairbanks and Bates, American Furniture: 1620 to the Present (New York, 1981 p. 129).
Boston supported ten known japanners previous to 1750 (Brazer, ' ' The Magazine Antiques (May 1943): 208-211; Heckscher, p. 1050). Among those artisans, William Randall (active 1715-1735) and Robert Davis (d. 1739) worked together on an unknown number of pieces, one of which, a japanned flat-top Queen Anne high chest, bears Davis' signature and the initials of William Randall who was both a japanner and cabinetmaker (collecion of The Baltimore Musuem of Art, see Fairbanks, p. 133). The signed high chest and this bureau share the distinctive use of large, isolated figures along with the standard repertoire of birds, flowers, huts with fences, straw-hatted people and a border of gilt tablets in this instance around the top. The swans with long curved necks are particularly similar in form and hint at a possible connection between the pieces but upon inspection of japanning attributed to other artisans, it is evident that the similarity is based on the designs illustrated in Stalker and Parker's 1688 pattern book. A remarkable survival and the only one of its kind, this bureau is an important document as well as a visually captivating object. The case and finish were conserved by the conservation labs at Winterthur Museum and full reports are available.
The fascination with lacquered furniture from the Orient, called 'Japan-work' or 'Indian-work' by John Stalker and George Parker, authors of the definitive treatise on japanning in 1688, was outlined in the introduction to their book:
We have laid before you an Art very much admired by us,
and all those who hold any commerce with the inhabitants
of Japan; but that Island not being ale to furnish these
parts with work of this kind, the English and Frenchmen
have endeavored to imitate them;...now you may be stocked
with entire furniture....[and] If done by able hands, it may come so near the tru [sic] Japan...tht no one but an
Artist should be able to distinguish 'em [sic].'
A Treatise on Japanning and Varnishing (Oxford, England,
1688)
The popularity of Stalker and Parker's publication was so great that within a year it was already in its third edition (Fales, American Painted Furniture (New York, 1972, p. 60). The intrigue with the Orient continued and by the mid-eighteenth century there were numerous architectural and design pattern books that expressed and emphasized the Chinese taste. Among these was Robert Sayer's, The Ladie's Amusement, The Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy (London, 1762), in which he noted that 'The Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy (London, 1762), in which he noted that 'The Art of Japanning, and Decorating with various Designs, has prevailed so much of late from the superb Cabinet to the smallest Article.... [With] The Variety of Objects admitting almost infinite Combinations....' Influential throughout the latter eighteenth century and aimed at the novice artist, Sayer's book acknowledged the acceptance of the fashion within a broader sphere than Stalker and Parker's more technical work written over seventy years earlier.
Unable to obtain resin from the Oriental lac tree (Rhus vernicifera) because of its sensitivity to changes in climate, westerners imitated the appearance of this crucial ingredient of true Oriental lacquer-work by covering objects with layers of paint and varnish (Greg Landry, Conservation Division, Winterthur Museum). Colonial craftsmen who practiced the art of Japanning also reduced the time-consuming process from the thirty or forty steps involved to a simplified number of six or eight (Heckscher and Safford, 'Boston Japanned Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art' The Magazine Antiques (May 1986):1050). They were able to achieve similar effects as their English counterparts but in less time by japanning over maple and pine rather than oak which required layers of gesso to smooth over the grain and in addition they applied varnish over painted details rather than mixing colors into each layer of varnish (Fales, p. 59). The artist who japanned this bureau smoothed a skim coat of glue and chalk over the case which he then covered with layers of vermillion paint, a shellac and resin coat, daubs of Ivory Black paint in imitation of tortoise shell, another shellac and resin coat and then applied the decorative elements made of gypsum, which unlike gesso adhered well to the surface. The motifs are cast in place as on most other japanned pieces, and are covered with metallic shavings rather than gold or silver leaf. Fine details are painted over the gilding in vermillion, Ivory Black and verdigris; the decoration is painted rather than molded on the sides of the case as was typical in the period. A layer of Dragons Blood red was applied over the susrface to tone and darken the bureau which was then covered with a final layer of shellac and resin (Richard Wolpers, Paint Analysis Report, Winterthur Conservation Center).
The large, disproportionate figures that decorate the facade of this bureau suggest that it was japanned in the early Queen Anne period with closer visual ties to the chinoiserie furniture of the William and Mary era; the decoration on later Queen Anne pieces is usually comprised of smaller figures and painted in a more compact fussy manner.
Imported into Boston since the 1690s, japanned furniture soon became fashionable and surviving objects inform us that it was produced in the colonies by the turn of the century (Fales, p. 68). The earliest reference to colonial japanned furniture is a 1734 bill from William Randall of Boston who charged cabinetmaker Nathaniel Holmes for 'Japanning a Piddement [sic] Chest & Table Tortoiseshell & Gold' (Heckscher, p. 1051). Although japanned furniture was made in New York and Connecticut, Boston was the center of production in colonial America, possibly because the fashion for Chinoiserie furniture coincided with the commercial expansion of the city (Fairbanks and Bates, American Furniture: 1620 to the Present (New York, 1981 p. 129).
Boston supported ten known japanners previous to 1750 (Brazer, ' ' The Magazine Antiques (May 1943): 208-211; Heckscher, p. 1050). Among those artisans, William Randall (active 1715-1735) and Robert Davis (d. 1739) worked together on an unknown number of pieces, one of which, a japanned flat-top Queen Anne high chest, bears Davis' signature and the initials of William Randall who was both a japanner and cabinetmaker (collecion of The Baltimore Musuem of Art, see Fairbanks, p. 133). The signed high chest and this bureau share the distinctive use of large, isolated figures along with the standard repertoire of birds, flowers, huts with fences, straw-hatted people and a border of gilt tablets in this instance around the top. The swans with long curved necks are particularly similar in form and hint at a possible connection between the pieces but upon inspection of japanning attributed to other artisans, it is evident that the similarity is based on the designs illustrated in Stalker and Parker's 1688 pattern book. A remarkable survival and the only one of its kind, this bureau is an important document as well as a visually captivating object. The case and finish were conserved by the conservation labs at Winterthur Museum and full reports are available.