NEW YORK, 1820-1830

With two tiers of white marble columns, bronze mounts, and swirling mahogany veneers, this secretary-bookcase exemplifies the bold aesthetic created by classical cabinetmakers for their New York patrons. Inspired by the English Regency and by the French Empire, makers such as Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854), Charles Honore Lannuier (1779-1819), and others, manufactured pier tables, game tables, and sideboards featuring many of the characteristics found in the lot illustrated here. The rare form of this desk-and-bookcase, likely inspired by a design for a "cylinder desk-and-bookcase," illustrated in Percier and Fontaine's Recueil de decorations interieures (Paris, 1812, plate 21) has been attributed to the workshop of Duncan Phyfe. Several other case pieces with comparable elements have been attributed to Phyfe including: a desk-and-bookcase in the Bartow-Pell Mansion; a desk-and-bookcase in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum with overall similar proportions, a reeded top of wood instead of marble and fitted pull-out desk compartment (illustrated in Tracy, 19th Century America: Furniture and Decorative Arts (New York, 1970), entry 20); a Bonheur du Jour illustrated in Feld and Garrett, Neo-Classicism in America: Inspiration and Innovation, 1810-1840 (New York, 1991), p.55, fig.35. For a related secretary-bookcase made by an unidentified New York maker, see Kenny, Honore Lannuier: Cabinetmaker from Paris (New York, 1998), p.44, fig.22.