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Lot Essay
Beautifully proportioned with original openwork brasses and canted ogee bracket feet, this chest-of-drawers is an exceptional example from mid-eighteenth century Philadelphia. Its understated decorative details, namely the cusped corners of the top, fluted canted corners of the case and shaping to the feet, combine to create a powerful design in a small, compact form. Case forms with canted corners and corresponding ogee bracket feet were made in Philadelphia from the 1740s to the 1790s with some of the earlier examples signed by or attributed to members of the Claypoole family of cabinetmakers. Suggesting its production in a different shop, this chest lacks lambs’-tongue capitals above the fluting, the chamfering has five rather than three flutes on each corner and it displays a base molding and foot shaping of variant design to Claypoole examples. Similar cusped feet are seen on a related chest-on-chest from an unknown shop but dated to the 1740s, indicating that this chest may also date prior to 1750. Its straight front contrasts with the serpentine fronts of the later chests made by Jonathan Gostelowe, who trained under George Claypoole, and his London-trained associate Thomas Jones (Andrew Brunk, “The Claypoole Family Joiners of Philadelphia: Their Legacy and the Context of Their Work,” American Furniture 2002, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, 2002), pp. 167-170, figs. 26-30). The form is enhanced by the original openwork brasses, the design for which appears in an eighteenth-century catalogue of brass ornaments from Birmingham, England (fig. 2).
During the mid-twentieth century, this chest stood amongst some of the greatest masterpieces of modern art. Along with a hairy-paw card table made for General John Cadwalader now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (fig. 3), it was part of the renowned collection of G. David Thompson (1899-1965), a steel magnate and legendary pioneer collector of Pittsburgh. By 1959, Thompson’s collection of modern art was one of the most important in the country, if not the world, and in 1961, highlights from his collection were exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York. With a particular focus on Paul Klee and Alberto Giacometti, who painted Thompson’s portrait in 1955, Thompson’s vast collection was displayed on a rotating basis at his home, "Stone’s Throw," in suburban Pittsburgh (fig. 1). He was a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and major benefactor of the Carnegie Museum of Art, both of which now own a number of works from his collection. According to an appraisal taken soon after his death in 1965, this chest-of-drawers stood in the drawing room at "Stone’s Throw" (“An appraisal of household effects for the Estate of G. David Thompson,” 26 June 1965, Carnegie Museum of Art Archives). The following year, a portion of his collection was sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries, but this chest, as well as the Cadwalader card table, remained in the possession of his wife, Helene, until sold at auction after her death in 1982. For more on Thompson, see One Hundred Paintings from the G. David Thompson Collection (The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, 1961); Dorothy Seiberling, “A Millionaire Amid His Moderns,” Life, vol. 48, no. 19 (May 16, 1960), pp. 80-91; Costas G. Karakatsanis, “G. David Thompson: A Pittsburgh Art Patron and His Collection,” April 7, 2015, available at https://blog.cmoa.org/2015/04/g-david-thompson-a-pittsburgh-art-patron-and-his-collection/ (accessed November 19, 2015).
During the mid-twentieth century, this chest stood amongst some of the greatest masterpieces of modern art. Along with a hairy-paw card table made for General John Cadwalader now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (fig. 3), it was part of the renowned collection of G. David Thompson (1899-1965), a steel magnate and legendary pioneer collector of Pittsburgh. By 1959, Thompson’s collection of modern art was one of the most important in the country, if not the world, and in 1961, highlights from his collection were exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York. With a particular focus on Paul Klee and Alberto Giacometti, who painted Thompson’s portrait in 1955, Thompson’s vast collection was displayed on a rotating basis at his home, "Stone’s Throw," in suburban Pittsburgh (fig. 1). He was a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and major benefactor of the Carnegie Museum of Art, both of which now own a number of works from his collection. According to an appraisal taken soon after his death in 1965, this chest-of-drawers stood in the drawing room at "Stone’s Throw" (“An appraisal of household effects for the Estate of G. David Thompson,” 26 June 1965, Carnegie Museum of Art Archives). The following year, a portion of his collection was sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries, but this chest, as well as the Cadwalader card table, remained in the possession of his wife, Helene, until sold at auction after her death in 1982. For more on Thompson, see One Hundred Paintings from the G. David Thompson Collection (The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, 1961); Dorothy Seiberling, “A Millionaire Amid His Moderns,” Life, vol. 48, no. 19 (May 16, 1960), pp. 80-91; Costas G. Karakatsanis, “G. David Thompson: A Pittsburgh Art Patron and His Collection,” April 7, 2015, available at https://blog.cmoa.org/2015/04/g-david-thompson-a-pittsburgh-art-patron-and-his-collection/ (accessed November 19, 2015).