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拍品專文
This is one of the truly great Newport beds.
--Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., 1954
This bed is well-deserving of the accolade above bestowed by “Mr. Newport,” aka Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr. Surviving in pristine condition, the bed has an old, possibly original and seemingly untouched surface that reveals the expertly carved details to their fullest. The spiral carving on the balusters on the footposts in particular is sophisticated in design and masterfully rendered. Instead of carving equidistant ridges, the carver gradually decreased the spacing toward the top of the form. The effect is of an increasingly tighter twist, as if the element was wrung like a towel. In his discussion of the form, Carpenter notes that these turnings are remarkably similar to pendant drops on the interior woodwork of the entrance hall at the Hunter House and they appear to exhibit the same torqued design. Two other eighteenth-century Newport bedsteads exhibit similar turnings, along with fluted Marlboro legs as seen here and it is likely that all three were made in the same cabinet shop (see The Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, RIF983 and RIF1620).
At the time of its publication in 1954, the bed was noted to have been owned by a daughter of William Ellery and descended in the Dennis family before being purchased by “Miss Mary Elizabeth Powel” at an auction of Dennis family property. However, a 1931 newspaper article detailing the sale of the effects of Mary Edith Powel (1846-1931) notes that “a four-post Goddard bedstead, in complete mahogany, and beautifully carved” was made for and purchased from the Vernon family by Miss Powel. This undoubtedly refers to the bed offered here and as detailed in Provenance above, a likely line of descent includes both the Ellery and Vernon families (“Articles of Interest Offered for Sale, Auction to be Held at Residence of Late Miss Powel,” Newport Mercury, 17 July 1931, p. 2).
The bed’s first owners may have been Elizabeth “Betsey” Almy Ellery (1764-1857) and Samuel Vernon (1757-1834), cousins who married in 1784, around the time this bed was made. It also may have been made for a member of the previous generation, including Betsey’s father and uncle, Christopher (1736-1789) and William Ellery (1727-1820) and Samuel’s father William Vernon (1719-1806). Samuel Vernon lived at his father’s house, the Vernon House, which still stands on Newport’s Clarke Street, both before and after his marriage. During the Revolution in 1780-1781, the house was the headquarters of Count Rochambeau who hosted George Washington there in March 1781. Grandson of the renowned silversmith of the same name, Samuel Vernon, like his father, was a prosperous merchant and at one time considered the wealthiest man in Newport. If this bed graced the Vernon House, it likely remained there through the occupation of Samuel’s son, Samuel Brown Vernon (1802-1858) and his wife Sophia Peace (1802-1880) (Maud Lyman Stevens, A History of the Vernon House (Newport, 1915), pp. 16, 27, 31, 41-47, 51). Their son, Joseph Peace Vernon (1831-1908) married Feroline Salung Angier (1853-1942), who was active in many local historical groups, as was Mary Edith Powel, and it is likely that they were the “Vernon family” who sold the bed to Powel. After Mary’s death, the bed was acquired by Hope Knight (Hodgman) Powel (1889-1974), who had married Mary’s nephew, Providence banker Thomas Ives Hare Powel (1887-1939). A Vice Regent at Mount Vernon, Hope was an active supporter and donor to the Museum. By 1953, when the bed was featured in Ralph Carpenter’s pioneering exhibition, the bed had been passed to her son-in-law and daughter, Lieutenant and Mrs. Richard G. Alexander.
--Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., 1954
This bed is well-deserving of the accolade above bestowed by “Mr. Newport,” aka Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr. Surviving in pristine condition, the bed has an old, possibly original and seemingly untouched surface that reveals the expertly carved details to their fullest. The spiral carving on the balusters on the footposts in particular is sophisticated in design and masterfully rendered. Instead of carving equidistant ridges, the carver gradually decreased the spacing toward the top of the form. The effect is of an increasingly tighter twist, as if the element was wrung like a towel. In his discussion of the form, Carpenter notes that these turnings are remarkably similar to pendant drops on the interior woodwork of the entrance hall at the Hunter House and they appear to exhibit the same torqued design. Two other eighteenth-century Newport bedsteads exhibit similar turnings, along with fluted Marlboro legs as seen here and it is likely that all three were made in the same cabinet shop (see The Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, RIF983 and RIF1620).
At the time of its publication in 1954, the bed was noted to have been owned by a daughter of William Ellery and descended in the Dennis family before being purchased by “Miss Mary Elizabeth Powel” at an auction of Dennis family property. However, a 1931 newspaper article detailing the sale of the effects of Mary Edith Powel (1846-1931) notes that “a four-post Goddard bedstead, in complete mahogany, and beautifully carved” was made for and purchased from the Vernon family by Miss Powel. This undoubtedly refers to the bed offered here and as detailed in Provenance above, a likely line of descent includes both the Ellery and Vernon families (“Articles of Interest Offered for Sale, Auction to be Held at Residence of Late Miss Powel,” Newport Mercury, 17 July 1931, p. 2).
The bed’s first owners may have been Elizabeth “Betsey” Almy Ellery (1764-1857) and Samuel Vernon (1757-1834), cousins who married in 1784, around the time this bed was made. It also may have been made for a member of the previous generation, including Betsey’s father and uncle, Christopher (1736-1789) and William Ellery (1727-1820) and Samuel’s father William Vernon (1719-1806). Samuel Vernon lived at his father’s house, the Vernon House, which still stands on Newport’s Clarke Street, both before and after his marriage. During the Revolution in 1780-1781, the house was the headquarters of Count Rochambeau who hosted George Washington there in March 1781. Grandson of the renowned silversmith of the same name, Samuel Vernon, like his father, was a prosperous merchant and at one time considered the wealthiest man in Newport. If this bed graced the Vernon House, it likely remained there through the occupation of Samuel’s son, Samuel Brown Vernon (1802-1858) and his wife Sophia Peace (1802-1880) (Maud Lyman Stevens, A History of the Vernon House (Newport, 1915), pp. 16, 27, 31, 41-47, 51). Their son, Joseph Peace Vernon (1831-1908) married Feroline Salung Angier (1853-1942), who was active in many local historical groups, as was Mary Edith Powel, and it is likely that they were the “Vernon family” who sold the bed to Powel. After Mary’s death, the bed was acquired by Hope Knight (Hodgman) Powel (1889-1974), who had married Mary’s nephew, Providence banker Thomas Ives Hare Powel (1887-1939). A Vice Regent at Mount Vernon, Hope was an active supporter and donor to the Museum. By 1953, when the bed was featured in Ralph Carpenter’s pioneering exhibition, the bed had been passed to her son-in-law and daughter, Lieutenant and Mrs. Richard G. Alexander.