Lot Essay
An outstanding expression of Baltimore’s Classical style and closely related in form to an example documented to Hugh Finlay (1781-1831) and Co., the present card table is a rare survival that can be firmly attributed to this celebrated cabinetmaking shop. The table’s columnar pedestal with spherical turning and cross-base with attached brackets are remarkably close to a table at Prestwould Plantation in Clarkesville, Virginia documented to Hugh Finlay and made for Humberston Skipwith in 1819 (Gregory R. Weidman, ‘The Furniture of Classical Maryland, 1815-1845,’ in Gregory R. Weidman and Jennifer F. Goldsborough, Classical Maryland 1815-1845 (Baltimore, 1993), p. 99, pl. 121). Like the Skipwith table, this table has a front rail with a tripartite design and was probably made around the same time. Here, the gilt-stenciled ornament consists of a leafy wreath, scrollwork or rinceaux, flowerheads and stylized anthemia, inspired by French designs of Percier and Fontaine.
Each corner of the inner surfaces of the top features an anthemion with pointed base and string-inlaid surround, a distinctive detail also seen on an unusual lyre-base card table attributed to the Finlay shop and now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Interestingly, the PMA table, like that offered here, features a fully decorated rear rail that would enhance its appearance when used in the middle of a room (Philip D. Zimmerman, ‘An Important Baltimore Painted Card Table,’ available at www.stanleyweiss.com; for related tables, see Weidman, Goldsborough, ibid., pp. 102-105, nos. 125-128).
A pair of card tables formerly owned by Andy Warhol are identical in design and size, and also feature interior wells lined with red velvet as seen on the table offered here (Sotheby’s, 25 January 2013, lot 460; Hirschl & Adler exhibition, Very Rich & Handsome, American Neo-Classical Decorative Arts, New York, 18 December 2014-13 February 2015). The wreath and rinceaux pattern is seen on a number of surviving forms, including furniture with portrait medallions of Lafayette. It is also seen in a portrait of Mrs. Augusta Wells of Annapolis, one of a pair in lot 558 of this sale.
The present table was once owned by the American poet Ogden Nash (1902-1971) who in 1931 married Frances Rider Leonard (1906-1984). She was the granddaughter of Elihu Jackson (1837-1907), a former Governor of Maryland, and the table may have been made for one of Elihu's grandparents, members of the Jackson, Hammond, Humphreys and McBride families. Born in Rye, New York, Nash later lived in Baltimore, where he married his wife in 1931, and this table furnished their summer home in Little Boar's Head, Hampton, New Hampshire. Nash is known for his light verse poetry and witty lines that have been popularized and incorporated into American folklore. Such humorous verses include, ‘If called by a panther / Don’t anther,’ ‘Candy / Is dandy / But liquor / Is quicker’, and ‘Who wants my jellyfish? / I’m not sellyfish!’. Nash's great-great-grandfather was Abner Nash (1740-1786) who served as the second governor of North Carolina and who’s brother Francis (1742-1777) was honored by the city naming of Nashville, Tennessee.
Each corner of the inner surfaces of the top features an anthemion with pointed base and string-inlaid surround, a distinctive detail also seen on an unusual lyre-base card table attributed to the Finlay shop and now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Interestingly, the PMA table, like that offered here, features a fully decorated rear rail that would enhance its appearance when used in the middle of a room (Philip D. Zimmerman, ‘An Important Baltimore Painted Card Table,’ available at www.stanleyweiss.com; for related tables, see Weidman, Goldsborough, ibid., pp. 102-105, nos. 125-128).
A pair of card tables formerly owned by Andy Warhol are identical in design and size, and also feature interior wells lined with red velvet as seen on the table offered here (Sotheby’s, 25 January 2013, lot 460; Hirschl & Adler exhibition, Very Rich & Handsome, American Neo-Classical Decorative Arts, New York, 18 December 2014-13 February 2015). The wreath and rinceaux pattern is seen on a number of surviving forms, including furniture with portrait medallions of Lafayette. It is also seen in a portrait of Mrs. Augusta Wells of Annapolis, one of a pair in lot 558 of this sale.
The present table was once owned by the American poet Ogden Nash (1902-1971) who in 1931 married Frances Rider Leonard (1906-1984). She was the granddaughter of Elihu Jackson (1837-1907), a former Governor of Maryland, and the table may have been made for one of Elihu's grandparents, members of the Jackson, Hammond, Humphreys and McBride families. Born in Rye, New York, Nash later lived in Baltimore, where he married his wife in 1931, and this table furnished their summer home in Little Boar's Head, Hampton, New Hampshire. Nash is known for his light verse poetry and witty lines that have been popularized and incorporated into American folklore. Such humorous verses include, ‘If called by a panther / Don’t anther,’ ‘Candy / Is dandy / But liquor / Is quicker’, and ‘Who wants my jellyfish? / I’m not sellyfish!’. Nash's great-great-grandfather was Abner Nash (1740-1786) who served as the second governor of North Carolina and who’s brother Francis (1742-1777) was honored by the city naming of Nashville, Tennessee.