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Lot Essay
With its vibrant mahogany veneers and delicate line inlay, this sideboard exemplifies the restrained elegance of American Federal furniture. The stringing design seen on the drawers and doors relate the sideboard to a card table documented by an 1817 bill of sale to Thomas Howard, Jr. (1774-1833) of Pawtuxet and Providence, Rhode Island (Hewitt et al., The Work of Many Hands: Card Tables in Federal America (New Haven, 1982), cat. 33, p. 152). Based on this similarity, a group of approximately twelve sideboards of similar form and ornament to that offered here have been attributed to Howard's hand (see below). Like that illustrated here, all these sideboards share the same diminutive form, layout of drawers and doors (including the deceit of one large deep drawer decorated to simulate two stacked drawers) and shaped skirt. Differences in the decorative embellishments on the legs and distinctive interlaced vine inlay, however, suggest that the group was made by several competing shops (Monkhouse and Michie, American Furniture in Pendleton House (Providence, 1986), p. 114).
A highly successful cabinetmaker and merchant, Thomas Howard stands as a likely craftsman to found the region's most influential shop tradition. He began practicing his trade in Pawtuxet in 1790 and a few years later set up a branch of his business in Providence. In 1812, he removed to Providence where except from a brief sojourn to Philadelphia, he remained until his death. His 1804 advertisement in the Providence Gazzette includes a long list of forms that begins with "Side-boards, with serpentine, eliptic, sash-cornered or straight fronts." He also retailed furniture, sent venture cargoes on the ships of the Brown and Ives firm and imported ivory. Through these endeavours, he attained a substantial fortune and left an estate valued at over $90,000 (Monahon, "Thomas Howard Jr., Providence cabinetmaker," Antiques (June 1965), pp. 702-704).
Similar sideboards include two in the collections of Yale University (Ward, American Case Furniture (New Haven, 1988), cats. 214 and 215, pp. 415-417); one in the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society (Ott, The John Brown House Loan Exhibition of Rhode Island Furniture (Providence, Rhode Island, 1965), cat. 48, pp. 68-69); one in the collections of Pendleton House (Monkhouse and Michie, cat. 52, pp. 114-115); one in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg (Greenlaw, New England Furniture at Williamsburg (Williamsburg, VA), cat. 111, p. 131-132). See also, Sotheby's New York, June 28-30 1984, lot 702 and September 26, 1981, lot 424, Sack, American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, vol. 2, p. 408, no. 1031 and Antiques (April 1977), back cover.
A highly successful cabinetmaker and merchant, Thomas Howard stands as a likely craftsman to found the region's most influential shop tradition. He began practicing his trade in Pawtuxet in 1790 and a few years later set up a branch of his business in Providence. In 1812, he removed to Providence where except from a brief sojourn to Philadelphia, he remained until his death. His 1804 advertisement in the Providence Gazzette includes a long list of forms that begins with "Side-boards, with serpentine, eliptic, sash-cornered or straight fronts." He also retailed furniture, sent venture cargoes on the ships of the Brown and Ives firm and imported ivory. Through these endeavours, he attained a substantial fortune and left an estate valued at over $90,000 (Monahon, "Thomas Howard Jr., Providence cabinetmaker," Antiques (June 1965), pp. 702-704).
Similar sideboards include two in the collections of Yale University (Ward, American Case Furniture (New Haven, 1988), cats. 214 and 215, pp. 415-417); one in the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society (Ott, The John Brown House Loan Exhibition of Rhode Island Furniture (Providence, Rhode Island, 1965), cat. 48, pp. 68-69); one in the collections of Pendleton House (Monkhouse and Michie, cat. 52, pp. 114-115); one in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg (Greenlaw, New England Furniture at Williamsburg (Williamsburg, VA), cat. 111, p. 131-132). See also, Sotheby's New York, June 28-30 1984, lot 702 and September 26, 1981, lot 424, Sack, American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, vol. 2, p. 408, no. 1031 and Antiques (April 1977), back cover.