An American Renaissance Revival pietre dure and pate-sur-pate porcelain-mounted parcel-gilt marquetry and rosewood side cabinet
An American Renaissance Revival pietre dure and pate-sur-pate porcelain-mounted parcel-gilt marquetry and rosewood side cabinet

ATTRIBUTED TO HERTER BROTHERS, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1870

細節
An American Renaissance Revival pietre dure and pate-sur-pate porcelain-mounted parcel-gilt marquetry and rosewood side cabinet
Attributed to Herter Brothers, New York, Circa 1870
Of architectural form, the tiered rouge marble top with central spreading pediment above a breakfront frieze set with three panelled drawers, the central drawer with floral pietre dure plaque, flanked on each side by butterflies, above a panelled cupboard door inlaid with Neoclassical motifs, straw marquetry and a moth at each corner, the centre with an oval French pâte-sur-pâte porcelain plaque depicting Diana and two putti, the reverse signed in ink Vanessa, opening to reveal an adjustable shelf, above a further drawer, flanked on each side by a panelled cupboard door decorated with a flower-filled vase, opening to reveal a single shelf, the sides with plain rectangular panels, raised on rectangular feet
42 in. (106.7 cm.) high; 64½ in. (168.3 cm.) wide; 21½ in. (54.6 cm.) deep

拍品專文

Although unsigned, the present cabinet is consistent in design with a number of documented examples made by Herter Brothers. Other attributed and signed examples incorporate similar carving, incising and the application of pietre dure, marquetry, and pâte-sur-pâte porcelain decoration (see Howe et al., Herter Brothers: Furniture and Interiors for a Gilded Age, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1994. pp. 118-9, 218).

The overall form of the present example closely relates to that of a cabinet branded by Gustave Herter illustrated in Voorsanger, Gustave Herter, Cabinetmaker and Decorator, in Antiques, May 1995, pl. V pp. 744. A similar attributed pietre dure-adorned cabinet, with identical panelled side doors and with the addition of a splashguard, sold in these rooms 5 October 2000, lot 183.

The Herters were involved in a dispute in 1870 related to the importation of 'Florentine Mosaics'. In an application submitted to the import-duty collector of New York, they contested the customs fees they were required to pay on the plaques, which had been erroneously taxed as jewelry at 50 The plaques, they stated, were intended to be used as "ornaments for mantels, panels &c". Herter Brothers argued that "no more such goods will be sent them for some years". As such, surviving examples of pieces with pietre dure adornments are relatively rare (op. cit. pp. 118 & 162).