拍品专文
At a time when the primary source of American design was shifting from England to France, the most important cabinetmaker to introduce Americans to French aesthetics was Charles Honoré Lannuier (1779-1819), who emigrated to New York in 1803 and soon became one of the country's leading furniture makers. Trained in Paris, Lannuier learned first-hand the new designs and decorative treatments of the Empire style. Named after Napoleon's regime, the Empire style drew upon the recent archeological discoveries made after French conquests in Egypt and Italy adapted these ancient motifs to adorn contemporary forms. The card table is adorned with references to antiquity. The boldly carved winged figure, or caryatid, derives from Egyption sources and its design was illustrated in Pierre de la Mesangere's Collection des meubles et objets de gout (Paris, printed serially from 1802 to 1835) and soon thereafter in Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (London, 1807). The hock lion's paw feet are reminscent of ancient Roman design. To further the effect of age, Lannuier finished the base of the caryatid and the feet with a dark green surface, a process known as vert-antique, to imitate the patina of ancient bronze.
The applied mounts and inlaid brass and ebonized wood banding were decorative treatments favored in France. Upon arriving in New York, Lannuier advertised his services in the New York Evening Post and stated that he made "all kinds of Furniture, Beds, Chairs, &c, in the newest and latest French fashion; and that he has brought for that purpose gilt and brass frames, borders of ornaments." (cited in Jillian Ehninger, "'With the Richest Ornaments Just Imported From France': Ornamental Hardware on Boston, New York, and Philadelphia Furniture, 1800-1840," master thesis, University of Delaware, 1993, p.48). The inlaid banding running along the edge of the table's top was one of the "borders of ornaments" Lannuier brought or later imported from France. The English designer, Thomas Hope expicitly credited the French for perfecting this technique. He wrote, "At Paris they have been carried to a great degree of elegance and perfection. The metal ornament, and the ground of stained wood in which it is inserted, being, there, stamped together and cut out, through use of the same single mechanical process, they are always sure of fitting each other to the greatest degree of nicety" (Hope, Household Furniture, text accompanying plate XXIV, nos. 2 & 3). The gilded mounts were imported usually in packages of twelve; thus, it is not surprising to find mounts of the same design on other furniture associated with Lannuier (Ehninger, p.45). The central mount on the apron is identical to those on a card table labelled by Lannuier (fig.2), a card table offered in this sale, lot 426, a pair of card tables and a work table attributed to Lannuier (see John Walton advertisement, Antiques (October 1965), p.392 and "The Furniture in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum," Antiques (February 1958), p.161). The eagle mounts on the table's canted corners are similar to those on a stamped-Lannuier pier table, see Sotheby's New York, 19-22 November 1980, lot 1354 and those on a bedstead attributed to Lannuier now at Winterthur Museum (Winterthur Library, Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, no. 81.995)
This card table is one of the nine single-caryatid and labelled Lannuier examples known (for the mate, see Sotheby's New York 19-21 January 1996, lot 1627; a single table in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, fig.2; a pair of tables in the collection of the Albany Institute of Art, see lot 426, fig.1; a pair of tables in the collection of the Valentine Museum, fig.3; and a pair of tables in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art). All these tables have identical caryatid figures with mid-bandings decorated with a series of five-pointed starts, lower bandings with a series of flowers and three-part scrolled bases. They also share the same type of rear column supports which consist of a fluted column over inverted lotus elements. Within this group, Lannuier employed two variations for the table corners, abacus base and feet. This table and those at the Valentine Museum have canted corners, an abacus base with rounded rear projections and gilded and scrolled knee returns over hock feet overlayed with gilded acanthus-leaf carving. Those at the Albany Institute, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have hollowed corners, a symmetrical abacus base and feet in two visually distinct sections. There are nine other unsigned card tables known with single caryatids that vary in design and execution to those on the labelled examples.
Lannuier capitalized on his prestigious training by advertising that he had "worked at his trade with the most celebrated Cabinet Makers of Europe" and after moving to New York, desired only "a little encouragement" (cited in Ehninger, p.48). From American customers Lannuier received considerable "encouragement" and soon became a prominent supplier of furnishings for not only the elite of New York but to other well-to-do clients along the east coast.
According to family tradition, this table was part of the furnishings made for George Harrison (1762-1845) of Philadelphia. Harrison was involved with the financier Robert Morris's attempts to establish a national bank in 1781. After the failure of Morris' plan and Harrison's loss of investments, Harrison became a Navy agent and sought to re-establish himself as a merchant. Harrison and his wife, Sophia, were prominent members of early nineteenth-century Philadelphia society. According to the diary of Sophia's relative, Sidney George Fisher, they were active in the patronage of local theaters and frequently entertained at their Chestnut Street home (Nicholas B. Wainwright, ed., A Philadelphia Perspective (Philadelphia, 1967), pp.18-19, 43. Upon Harrison's death, Sidney Fisher published an obituary proclaiming Harrison to have been an "enlightened and enterprising man, of the strictest probity and widely esteemed" (the North American and Daily Advertiser, July 7, 1845, p.2). In his will, Harrison left all his furnishings to his wife who in turn, as she and her husband were childless, bequeathed all her furnishings to her nephew, Joshua Francis Fisher. From thence, the tables appear to have descended along the female lines of the family to the present owner.
The applied mounts and inlaid brass and ebonized wood banding were decorative treatments favored in France. Upon arriving in New York, Lannuier advertised his services in the New York Evening Post and stated that he made "all kinds of Furniture, Beds, Chairs, &c, in the newest and latest French fashion; and that he has brought for that purpose gilt and brass frames, borders of ornaments." (cited in Jillian Ehninger, "'With the Richest Ornaments Just Imported From France': Ornamental Hardware on Boston, New York, and Philadelphia Furniture, 1800-1840," master thesis, University of Delaware, 1993, p.48). The inlaid banding running along the edge of the table's top was one of the "borders of ornaments" Lannuier brought or later imported from France. The English designer, Thomas Hope expicitly credited the French for perfecting this technique. He wrote, "At Paris they have been carried to a great degree of elegance and perfection. The metal ornament, and the ground of stained wood in which it is inserted, being, there, stamped together and cut out, through use of the same single mechanical process, they are always sure of fitting each other to the greatest degree of nicety" (Hope, Household Furniture, text accompanying plate XXIV, nos. 2 & 3). The gilded mounts were imported usually in packages of twelve; thus, it is not surprising to find mounts of the same design on other furniture associated with Lannuier (Ehninger, p.45). The central mount on the apron is identical to those on a card table labelled by Lannuier (fig.2), a card table offered in this sale, lot 426, a pair of card tables and a work table attributed to Lannuier (see John Walton advertisement, Antiques (October 1965), p.392 and "The Furniture in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum," Antiques (February 1958), p.161). The eagle mounts on the table's canted corners are similar to those on a stamped-Lannuier pier table, see Sotheby's New York, 19-22 November 1980, lot 1354 and those on a bedstead attributed to Lannuier now at Winterthur Museum (Winterthur Library, Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, no. 81.995)
This card table is one of the nine single-caryatid and labelled Lannuier examples known (for the mate, see Sotheby's New York 19-21 January 1996, lot 1627; a single table in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, fig.2; a pair of tables in the collection of the Albany Institute of Art, see lot 426, fig.1; a pair of tables in the collection of the Valentine Museum, fig.3; and a pair of tables in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art). All these tables have identical caryatid figures with mid-bandings decorated with a series of five-pointed starts, lower bandings with a series of flowers and three-part scrolled bases. They also share the same type of rear column supports which consist of a fluted column over inverted lotus elements. Within this group, Lannuier employed two variations for the table corners, abacus base and feet. This table and those at the Valentine Museum have canted corners, an abacus base with rounded rear projections and gilded and scrolled knee returns over hock feet overlayed with gilded acanthus-leaf carving. Those at the Albany Institute, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have hollowed corners, a symmetrical abacus base and feet in two visually distinct sections. There are nine other unsigned card tables known with single caryatids that vary in design and execution to those on the labelled examples.
Lannuier capitalized on his prestigious training by advertising that he had "worked at his trade with the most celebrated Cabinet Makers of Europe" and after moving to New York, desired only "a little encouragement" (cited in Ehninger, p.48). From American customers Lannuier received considerable "encouragement" and soon became a prominent supplier of furnishings for not only the elite of New York but to other well-to-do clients along the east coast.
According to family tradition, this table was part of the furnishings made for George Harrison (1762-1845) of Philadelphia. Harrison was involved with the financier Robert Morris's attempts to establish a national bank in 1781. After the failure of Morris' plan and Harrison's loss of investments, Harrison became a Navy agent and sought to re-establish himself as a merchant. Harrison and his wife, Sophia, were prominent members of early nineteenth-century Philadelphia society. According to the diary of Sophia's relative, Sidney George Fisher, they were active in the patronage of local theaters and frequently entertained at their Chestnut Street home (Nicholas B. Wainwright, ed., A Philadelphia Perspective (Philadelphia, 1967), pp.18-19, 43. Upon Harrison's death, Sidney Fisher published an obituary proclaiming Harrison to have been an "enlightened and enterprising man, of the strictest probity and widely esteemed" (the North American and Daily Advertiser, July 7, 1845, p.2). In his will, Harrison left all his furnishings to his wife who in turn, as she and her husband were childless, bequeathed all her furnishings to her nephew, Joshua Francis Fisher. From thence, the tables appear to have descended along the female lines of the family to the present owner.