Lot Essay
This table was made by Charles-Honoré Lannuier for Rufus King (1755-1827), the Federalist statesman and minister to Great Britain. It remained in the family and passed down through subsequent generations as did the commode which preceeds.
One of the criteria that places an object above its peers is documentation; achieved in this piece through a family history in a prominent New York family and with the stamp of the distinguished French emigré cabinetmaker, Charles-Honoré Lannuier. Beyond its documentary importance, this table also represents the successful design, proportions and skilled execution associated with New York cabinetry of the highest quality and the name of Lannuier. These sentiments were ellicited in the 1805-1806 preface for the cabinet manufacturer's section of New York Longworth's City Directory: "This curious and useful mechanical art is brought to a very great perfection in this city. The furniture daily offered for sale equals in point of elegance any ever imported from Europe and is scarce equalled in any other city in America." (See, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (April, 1967), p. 286).
Charles-Honoré Lannuier emigrated to New York from Chantilly, France by 1803. In 1804, his shop was listed in Longworth's Directory at 60 Broad Street, whre he remained until his death in 1819 (Brown, Duncan Phyfe, (Master's Thesis, Univeristy of Delaware, 1978) p. 70). He promptly began to produce furniture in both the French Directoir and the English Regency style depending upon the taste of the client; it is interesting to note that this table, more in the English taste, and the commode, lot--also made for King by Lannuier, are in opposing styles.
The waterleaf-carved columns and hairy carved legs with carved foliage represent the influence of other New York craftsmen such as Duncan Phyfe and Michael Allison, while the brass string inlay is a feature often seen on Lannuier's work and which was adopted by many of his competitors; the successful incorporation of shared decorative elements illustrates the competition for a market interested in certain expected forms.
The execution of this table surpasses many of it colleagues, in the finely carved legs with overlapping cascading leaves rather than the expected waterleaf carved legs. The original marble top is also embellished beyond most with its distinctive reeded edge.
The rope-carved ring beneath each of the waterleaf-carved urn columns is a motif associated with tables produced in Lannuier's shop. This attribution is based upon a labeled Lannuier breakfast table with identical columns and carving. The awareness of this other table with the same treatment, further lends credence to the preference for this motif by Lannuier (the labeled table is illustrated in Jones, Charles-Honore and Duncan Phyfe, Two Creative Geniuses of Federal New York, in American Art Journal, vol. IX, no. 1 (May, 1977): 4-14, fig. 12). Several undocumented tables with the same carved ring are published, and although it is tempting to attribute them all to Lannuier, without substantial documentation, there is no proof as to whether these other tables were made by Lannuier or by a competitor who patronized the same carver; early publications even attributed them to Phyfe (see, Antiques vol. XXVIII, no. 4, (October, 1935): 133; Conger and Rollins, Treasure of State (New York, 1991), fig. 145; Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (New York, 1987), fig. 75; Girl Scout Loan Exhibition (New York, 1929?), fig. 759; Jones, fig. 11.
Two other branded and labeled Lannuier tables with carved waterleaf columns but turned rather than carved rings are in the collection of Winterthur Museum (Empire Dining Room) and the White House, the latter of which was also originally owned by Rufus King (Bulletin, fig. 3).
A card table of the same overall form, with canted top, waterleaf and rope-carved columns, rectangular abacus base and hairy lion's paw feet, but of less successful design, was sold by Peter Hill Antiques in 1974 (Winterthur Museum Photographic Research Library).
One of the criteria that places an object above its peers is documentation; achieved in this piece through a family history in a prominent New York family and with the stamp of the distinguished French emigré cabinetmaker, Charles-Honoré Lannuier. Beyond its documentary importance, this table also represents the successful design, proportions and skilled execution associated with New York cabinetry of the highest quality and the name of Lannuier. These sentiments were ellicited in the 1805-1806 preface for the cabinet manufacturer's section of New York Longworth's City Directory: "This curious and useful mechanical art is brought to a very great perfection in this city. The furniture daily offered for sale equals in point of elegance any ever imported from Europe and is scarce equalled in any other city in America." (See, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (April, 1967), p. 286).
Charles-Honoré Lannuier emigrated to New York from Chantilly, France by 1803. In 1804, his shop was listed in Longworth's Directory at 60 Broad Street, whre he remained until his death in 1819 (Brown, Duncan Phyfe, (Master's Thesis, Univeristy of Delaware, 1978) p. 70). He promptly began to produce furniture in both the French Directoir and the English Regency style depending upon the taste of the client; it is interesting to note that this table, more in the English taste, and the commode, lot--also made for King by Lannuier, are in opposing styles.
The waterleaf-carved columns and hairy carved legs with carved foliage represent the influence of other New York craftsmen such as Duncan Phyfe and Michael Allison, while the brass string inlay is a feature often seen on Lannuier's work and which was adopted by many of his competitors; the successful incorporation of shared decorative elements illustrates the competition for a market interested in certain expected forms.
The execution of this table surpasses many of it colleagues, in the finely carved legs with overlapping cascading leaves rather than the expected waterleaf carved legs. The original marble top is also embellished beyond most with its distinctive reeded edge.
The rope-carved ring beneath each of the waterleaf-carved urn columns is a motif associated with tables produced in Lannuier's shop. This attribution is based upon a labeled Lannuier breakfast table with identical columns and carving. The awareness of this other table with the same treatment, further lends credence to the preference for this motif by Lannuier (the labeled table is illustrated in Jones, Charles-Honore and Duncan Phyfe, Two Creative Geniuses of Federal New York, in American Art Journal, vol. IX, no. 1 (May, 1977): 4-14, fig. 12). Several undocumented tables with the same carved ring are published, and although it is tempting to attribute them all to Lannuier, without substantial documentation, there is no proof as to whether these other tables were made by Lannuier or by a competitor who patronized the same carver; early publications even attributed them to Phyfe (see, Antiques vol. XXVIII, no. 4, (October, 1935): 133; Conger and Rollins, Treasure of State (New York, 1991), fig. 145; Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (New York, 1987), fig. 75; Girl Scout Loan Exhibition (New York, 1929?), fig. 759; Jones, fig. 11.
Two other branded and labeled Lannuier tables with carved waterleaf columns but turned rather than carved rings are in the collection of Winterthur Museum (Empire Dining Room) and the White House, the latter of which was also originally owned by Rufus King (Bulletin, fig. 3).
A card table of the same overall form, with canted top, waterleaf and rope-carved columns, rectangular abacus base and hairy lion's paw feet, but of less successful design, was sold by Peter Hill Antiques in 1974 (Winterthur Museum Photographic Research Library).