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Lot Essay
Displaying the same overall design, similar proportions and closely related carved ornament, this card table appears to be the work of the same collaboration of cabinetmaker and carver responsible for a pair of card tables now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and one that sold in 2017. The related pair are attributed to Jonathan Shoemaker (1726-1793) as they both independently hail from the family of the Philadelphia cabinetmaker. Furthermore, surviving drawings by Shoemaker and his journeyman or co-worker Samuel Mickle (1746-1830), include a 1766 sketch of a cabriole-leg table similar in conception (Philadelphia Museum of Art, acc. no. 1956-122-1, see Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley, American Furniture 1650-1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (New Haven, Connecticut, 2020), p. 82, no. 47; Sotheby’s, New York, Property from the Collection of E. Newbold and Margaret du Pont Smith, 21 January 2017, lot 6002; for the Shoemaker/Mickle sketch, see the Philadelphia Museum of Art, acc. no. 1950-102-1g).
The carved ornament bears the hallmarks associated with Richard Butts, a London-trained craftsman who immigrated to Philadelphia in the mid-1760s, worked in or closely with the shop of Benjamin Randolph (1737-1792) and in 1773, formed a partnership with carver John Pollard (1740-1787). As described by Alan Miller, Butts’ distinguishing carving traits include acanthus leaves with rounded tips and wide veining, details seen on the table offered here and the related pair discussed above. Butts was one of the leading carvers in Philadelphia during the 1760s and 1770s and some of the most exuberantly carved ornament of this era is attributed to his hand, including hairy-paw furniture made for John Cadwalader and a pair of hairy-paw foot card tables made for Joshua Eyre (Sotheby’s, New York, 19 January 2017, lot 2123; see also Christie’s, New York, 24 January 2014, lot 125).
The carved ornament bears the hallmarks associated with Richard Butts, a London-trained craftsman who immigrated to Philadelphia in the mid-1760s, worked in or closely with the shop of Benjamin Randolph (1737-1792) and in 1773, formed a partnership with carver John Pollard (1740-1787). As described by Alan Miller, Butts’ distinguishing carving traits include acanthus leaves with rounded tips and wide veining, details seen on the table offered here and the related pair discussed above. Butts was one of the leading carvers in Philadelphia during the 1760s and 1770s and some of the most exuberantly carved ornament of this era is attributed to his hand, including hairy-paw furniture made for John Cadwalader and a pair of hairy-paw foot card tables made for Joshua Eyre (Sotheby’s, New York, 19 January 2017, lot 2123; see also Christie’s, New York, 24 January 2014, lot 125).