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Lot Essay
Made in one of the leading cabinetmaking shops and decorated by a carver with particular flair, this dressing table is a masterful display of mid-eighteenth century Philadelphia craftsmanship. The case can be firmly ascribed to the shop of Henry Cliffton (d. 1771) and Thomas Carteret, whose work is documented by a high chest signed and dated 1753 at Colonial Williamsburg. Displaying meticulous construction throughout, the signed example has a lower case with vertical drawer dividers that extend fully to the backboards and three case bottoms, one under each drawer, that are secured by finely cut glueblocks on the underside. These details are all seen on the dressing table offered here as well as on other case pieces attributed to the shop, including the high chests made for Benjamin Marshall and Benjamin Hartley (figs. 2, 3). Further supporting the attribution to a common source, the Marshall and Hartley high chests feature distinctive front skirts that are identical in design to that on this table. While the Cliffton-Carteret shop used a variety of designs, their skirt profiles all display a similar liveliness (see Eleanore P. Gadsden, “When Good Cabinetmakers Made Bad Furniture: The Career and Work of David Evans,” American Furniture 2001, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, 2001), pp. 65-87; Christie’s, New York, 19 May 2005, lot 109; for a slab-table from the same shop with a different but similarly spirited skirt, see fig. 2, lot 159 in this sale).
The Marshall and Hartley high chests and this dressing table also feature carving by the same hand whose work features asymmetric shells notable for their naturalistic rendering. Though unidentified, this craftsman is known as the “de Young high chest carver” so-named because the Hartley high chest is now in the de Young Museum in San Francisco. As seen on this dressing table and the Marshall and Hartley high chests, the shell carving has lobes that converge in an irregular fashion towards the center with trajectories that do not meet in a single, central point (fig. 4). Other furniture with ornament attributed to the same carver includes a dressing table en suite with the Hartley high chest and also at the de Young Museum, a dressing table formerly in the collection of Eddy Nicholson and its en suite high chest, a high chest in a private New York collection and a pair of tea tables (Christie’s, New York, 17 June 1992, lot 142; Sotheby’s, New York, 2 February 1980, lot 1654; “Town House of Treasures,” Antiques and Fine Art, available at https://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=37; Sotheby’s, New York, 24-25 January 2014, lot 206). This dressing table is further distinguished by its original brasses of a design that appears in an undated but watermarked 1765 brass catalogue from Birmingham, England (fig. 1).
Employing similar craft practices and designs, the de Young carver was most likely familiar with the work of Nicholas Bernard (d. 1789), one of the most important Philadelphia carvers of the 1750s. Aside from the asymmetry discussed above, the designs of the de Young carver are remarkably similar to Bernard’s. Both craftsmen executed shells with scalloped edges and stop-fluted lobes and closely related knees in which the acanthus carving on the knee returns flow seamlessly into the large “V”s at the center of the knee. They also used virtually identical incised embellishments. The shell carving on this dressing table has stop-fluted lobes headed by outlined ovals, which also feature on the shell carving attributed to Bernard on the Biddle-Drinker family high chest (fig. 5; see Christie’s, New York, 25 September 2008, lot 31). The latter also illustrates Bernard’s use of a series of elliptical gouge cuts on the upper, looping tendrils flanking the shell that closely resemble the passages on the convex lobes of the shell on the dressing table offered here. Other examples of Bernard’s use of these details include the rocaille passages on the crest shells and upper splats on a set of circa 1750 side chairs and on the central skirt shell on the Cornelius Stevenson card table (Christie’s, New York, 20 January 2012, lot 111; Christie’s, New York, 21 January 2000, lot 133; for more on Bernard, see Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, "A Table's Tale: Craft, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," American Furniture 2004, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, 2004), pp. 4-18; the latter illustrates a high chest and dressing table attributed to Bernard with closely related shell-carved drawers, pp. 17-18, figs. 30-32; see also Christie’s, New York, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 21 January 2006, lot 528). As illustrated by the Biddle-Drinker family high chest and the signed high chest at Colonial Williamsburg, Bernard also provided carved ornament for items made in the Cliffton-Carteret shop and it is perhaps through their associations with these cabinetmakers that Bernard and the de Young carver were familiar with each other’s work.
The Marshall and Hartley high chests and this dressing table also feature carving by the same hand whose work features asymmetric shells notable for their naturalistic rendering. Though unidentified, this craftsman is known as the “de Young high chest carver” so-named because the Hartley high chest is now in the de Young Museum in San Francisco. As seen on this dressing table and the Marshall and Hartley high chests, the shell carving has lobes that converge in an irregular fashion towards the center with trajectories that do not meet in a single, central point (fig. 4). Other furniture with ornament attributed to the same carver includes a dressing table en suite with the Hartley high chest and also at the de Young Museum, a dressing table formerly in the collection of Eddy Nicholson and its en suite high chest, a high chest in a private New York collection and a pair of tea tables (Christie’s, New York, 17 June 1992, lot 142; Sotheby’s, New York, 2 February 1980, lot 1654; “Town House of Treasures,” Antiques and Fine Art, available at https://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=37; Sotheby’s, New York, 24-25 January 2014, lot 206). This dressing table is further distinguished by its original brasses of a design that appears in an undated but watermarked 1765 brass catalogue from Birmingham, England (fig. 1).
Employing similar craft practices and designs, the de Young carver was most likely familiar with the work of Nicholas Bernard (d. 1789), one of the most important Philadelphia carvers of the 1750s. Aside from the asymmetry discussed above, the designs of the de Young carver are remarkably similar to Bernard’s. Both craftsmen executed shells with scalloped edges and stop-fluted lobes and closely related knees in which the acanthus carving on the knee returns flow seamlessly into the large “V”s at the center of the knee. They also used virtually identical incised embellishments. The shell carving on this dressing table has stop-fluted lobes headed by outlined ovals, which also feature on the shell carving attributed to Bernard on the Biddle-Drinker family high chest (fig. 5; see Christie’s, New York, 25 September 2008, lot 31). The latter also illustrates Bernard’s use of a series of elliptical gouge cuts on the upper, looping tendrils flanking the shell that closely resemble the passages on the convex lobes of the shell on the dressing table offered here. Other examples of Bernard’s use of these details include the rocaille passages on the crest shells and upper splats on a set of circa 1750 side chairs and on the central skirt shell on the Cornelius Stevenson card table (Christie’s, New York, 20 January 2012, lot 111; Christie’s, New York, 21 January 2000, lot 133; for more on Bernard, see Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, "A Table's Tale: Craft, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," American Furniture 2004, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, 2004), pp. 4-18; the latter illustrates a high chest and dressing table attributed to Bernard with closely related shell-carved drawers, pp. 17-18, figs. 30-32; see also Christie’s, New York, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 21 January 2006, lot 528). As illustrated by the Biddle-Drinker family high chest and the signed high chest at Colonial Williamsburg, Bernard also provided carved ornament for items made in the Cliffton-Carteret shop and it is perhaps through their associations with these cabinetmakers that Bernard and the de Young carver were familiar with each other’s work.