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Lot Essay
An elegant form with simple lines and subtle ornament, this dressing table well illustrates the refined craftsmanship of Federal-era Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In overall form, the leg turnings are typical of the city’s designs from the early nineteenth century and in detail, they are closely related to a group attributed to a single cabinetmaking shop, possibly that of Langley Boardman (1774-1833). With four ring turnings, a baluster, reeding with rounded tops and reel-and-ovolo cuffs, the legs appear identical to those on a pair of card tables acquired by merchant James Rundlet soon after 1808 for his new house on Middle Street. As discussed by Brock Jobe, the group includes other purchases by Rundlet as well as ten other card tables that can all be assigned to the same shop. As Rundlet had patronized Boardman prior to 1808, Jobe postulates the master cabinetmaker or his apprentice, Ebenezer Lord, as possible makers of the group. Boardman also lived on Middle Street and his neighbor, Samuel Larkin (1773-1849), owned one of the closely related card tables. Furthermore, a washstand with closely related legs and seemingly identical inlay has been attributed to Boardman’s shop (Brock Jobe, entry, Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks from the New Hampshire Seacoast (Hanover, New Hampshire, 1993), pp. 262-264, cat. 63; Christie’s, New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson, 27-28 January 1995, lot 1175).
Interestingly, this dressing table appears to have spent the vast majority of its two-hundred year history in the circa 1815 brick house built for Samuel Larkin, now known as the Larkin-Rice House, also on Portsmouth's Middle Street. As indicated by a handwritten inscription in ink on the top of the drawer divider, this dressing table was owned by “Eliza Waldron,” who has previously been identified as Eliza Waldron (1803-1836), the daughter of Jeremiah (1767-1851) and Mary (Scott) Waldron of Dover, New Hampshire. Eliza married Paul March Runnels (1790-1830) in 1828, but both died young and childless. The table was later in the Larkin-Rice House, which after Samuel Larkin’s occupancy, was owned by Joseph Hurd (1752-1842) and subsequently his daughter and son-in-law, Hannah (Hurd) (1782-1873) and Henry L. Ladd (1780-1842). As two of Eliza’s father’s sisters married members of the Hurd family, the table had likely passed to Eliza’s Hurd family cousins after her death. By 1900, the Larkin-Rice House had been purchased by Moritz Emil (1825-1907) and Josephine (Jenness) (1836-1914) Richter. Their daughter, Ellnora Richter (1885-1981) married Arthur Hopkins Rice (1883-1932) and a printed paper label on the underside of the drawer reading Mrs. Arthur H. Rice documents her ownership of the table. Arthur Rice was a Commander in the US Navy and the couple resided in both Washington DC and Portsmouth. The house remained in the family until as late as 1979, when it was owned by the Josephine J. Richter Trust with Arthur H. Rice, Jr. (1914-1992) as trustee (“Nomination Form,” National Park Service, received September 26, 1979, available at https://focus.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/79000205.pdf). Arthur H. Rice, Jr. died in 1992 and as noted above in Provenance, the table sold at auction the following year.
Interestingly, this dressing table appears to have spent the vast majority of its two-hundred year history in the circa 1815 brick house built for Samuel Larkin, now known as the Larkin-Rice House, also on Portsmouth's Middle Street. As indicated by a handwritten inscription in ink on the top of the drawer divider, this dressing table was owned by “Eliza Waldron,” who has previously been identified as Eliza Waldron (1803-1836), the daughter of Jeremiah (1767-1851) and Mary (Scott) Waldron of Dover, New Hampshire. Eliza married Paul March Runnels (1790-1830) in 1828, but both died young and childless. The table was later in the Larkin-Rice House, which after Samuel Larkin’s occupancy, was owned by Joseph Hurd (1752-1842) and subsequently his daughter and son-in-law, Hannah (Hurd) (1782-1873) and Henry L. Ladd (1780-1842). As two of Eliza’s father’s sisters married members of the Hurd family, the table had likely passed to Eliza’s Hurd family cousins after her death. By 1900, the Larkin-Rice House had been purchased by Moritz Emil (1825-1907) and Josephine (Jenness) (1836-1914) Richter. Their daughter, Ellnora Richter (1885-1981) married Arthur Hopkins Rice (1883-1932) and a printed paper label on the underside of the drawer reading Mrs. Arthur H. Rice documents her ownership of the table. Arthur Rice was a Commander in the US Navy and the couple resided in both Washington DC and Portsmouth. The house remained in the family until as late as 1979, when it was owned by the Josephine J. Richter Trust with Arthur H. Rice, Jr. (1914-1992) as trustee (“Nomination Form,” National Park Service, received September 26, 1979, available at https://focus.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/79000205.pdf). Arthur H. Rice, Jr. died in 1992 and as noted above in Provenance, the table sold at auction the following year.