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Ralph Emerson Carpenter, Jr. (1909-2009) Our beloved friend and colleague Ralph Carpenter liked to refer to himself as “a born-again patriot”. Ralph began his career upon graduation from Cornell University in the depths of the Depression in 1931. With perseverance, he eventually joined and rose to partner at the New York financial firm Reynolds Securities. Like many other collectors in the field, his professional success underwrote his passion for Colonial America, particularly for the unique style developed in Newport, and specifically for the furniture made by the Goddard and Townsend cabinetmaking families who lived and worked on the wharves of that famous harbor. In 1953, Ralph curated the pioneering exhibition, The Arts and Crafts of Newport, Rhode Island 1640-1820, and his accompanying catalogue remains a valuable scholarly source to this day. At the same time, he championed the restoration of Nichols-Wanton-Hunter House, the first of his many endeavors to preserve Newport’s eighteenth-century past. Along with his many like-minded friends, including Doris Duke, Angela Brown Fischer, Carter Brown, Nicholas Brown, Darby Ott and J. William Middendorf, Ralph inspired professionals and amateurs to deepen their study and celebration of the City’s architecture, furniture and decorative arts. Ralph began to form his personal collection in the late 1940s. Alongside paneling and woodwork from historic structures, his growing assemblage of furniture decorated Mowbra Hall, his Scarsdale, New York home he shared with his first wife, Cynthia Ramsey. In 1978, Ralph married Roberta “Bobbie” Lowy (1938-2019) and the couple moved to Newport where they enjoyed thirty-one years together. After the 1953 exhibition, Ralph spearheaded numerous projects into his 100th year. In 1992, Ralph conceived The Newport Symposium as a forum for the study of European and American decorative arts and their intersections over the last four hundred years. Today scholars and collectors return to Newport each spring for the Symposium to present and debate new discoveries and revelations in the decorative arts field. He also continued to advance scholarship with his study of Providence cabinetmakers such as John Carlisle. In April 2009 at the Newport Symposium, Dean Failey in his tribute to Ralph observed that, “when George Washington made his fourth and final visit to Newport, Rhode Island in August 1790, he was met by large and joyous crowds which led him into the City. They would have passed the Hunter House, the Brick Market, the White Horse Tavern, Trinity Church and the Redwood Library. Today, we too can make the same tour as Washington as each of these buildings have been carefully restored and preserved by the devotion and passion of a group of Americans inspired and led by Ralph Carpenter.” For the last ten years, Ralph’s treasures have been under Bobbie’s attentive stewardship but after her death last year, it is time for them to find new homes. This January Christie’s is honored to present works from Collection of Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., lots 297 to 336 and 451 to 468.--John Hays, December 2019PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OFRALPH E. CARPENTER, JR.

A PAIR OF FEDERAL BRASS ANDIRONS

PHILADELPHIA OR NEW YORK, 1790-1810

細節

A PAIR OF FEDERAL BRASS ANDIRONS
PHILADELPHIA OR NEW YORK, 1790-1810
together with English fire tools of the same design and a pair of King of Prussia marble fire tool rests
24 in. high, 20 ½ in. deep, 13 in. wide

來源

The andirons: Purchased from I. Winick, Inc., New York, October 1948
The tool rests: Purchased from Lillian Ullman, Tarrytown, New York
The tools: Purchased from Edwin Jackson, New York, November 1948

榮譽呈獻

Sallie Glover

sglover@christies.com +1 212 636 2230

拍品專文

With their distincitve diamond-and-flame finials above spiral-fluted baluster shafts and double spur legs ending in ball and claw feet these andirons exhibit all elements of this classic form. For a similar example with double spurs see Christie's, New York, 27-28 January 1995, lot 1078.

For smiliar flame and diamond firetools see Christie's, New York, 27-28 January 1995, lot 1077.

PHILADELPHIA OR NEW YORK, 1790-1810

榮譽呈獻

拍品專文

更多來自 重要美國家具、民俗藝術及銀器

更多來自重要美國家具、民俗藝術及銀器