.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Distinguished by the wide gouge cuts that extend through the tips of the acanthus leaves, the carving on this dressing table can be attributed to an unnamed carver identified and nicknamed “Spike” by Alan Miller and Luke Beckerdite. Miller has described this craftsman as “one of the important Philadelphia carvers of the 1760s and early 1770s” and examples such as the Lawrence high chest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Wistar desk-and-bookcase at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Gratz dressing table at Winterthur Museum demonstrate his virtuosity and artistic range. His talents were certainly held in high regard by his fellow woodworkers as his work appears on forms made in the shops of leading cabinetmakers Benjamin Randolph and Henry Cliffton and alongside or in close association with the work of eminent carvers such as the “Garvan high chest” carver, Hercules Courtenay and John Pollard. Several forms with carving by either Courtenay or Pollard feature shell-carved drawers closely related to that on the dressing table offered here and among these are the renowned Van Pelt high chest at Winterthur and the Hollingsworth high chests and dressing tables. See Alan Miller, catalogue entry, in Clement E. Conger and A.W. Rollins, Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the US Department of State (New York, 1991), cat. 28; the Potter-Crouch-Jordan family tea table, sold Keno Auctions, 31 January 2015, lot 1; a high chest with carving by “Spike” and attributed to Randolph’s shop, was offered by Christopher T. Rebollo Antiques at the 2016 Delaware Antiques Show. For a side chair with carving by the same hand, see lot 1263 in this sale.
Another dressing table with a similar shell-carved drawer attributed to “Spike” may have been made in the same cabinet shop as that offered here. Both feature closely related front skirt shaping with pendant lobes and distinctive astragal-shaped cut-outs at each end as well as the same combination of tops with cusped corners, fluted quarter columns, shell-carved knees and robustly shaped ball-and-claw feet (see Christie’s New York, 24 September 2012, lot 41). The table offered here is further distinguished by its original pierced brasses and for another dressing table with brasses of the same design, see Treasures of State, op. cit., cat. 29.
The dressing table was previously owned by Cecil Franklin Backus (1885-1966), who formed an important collection of early American furniture during the 1920s and early 1930s. During these years, Backus resided in Wilmington and Greenville, Delaware and would have been influenced by several of his work colleagues who were avid collectors as well as Henry Francis du Pont who was forming the renowned collection of Winterthur around the same time. For more on Backus, see Sotheby's New York, 22 January 2011, lot 124.
Another dressing table with a similar shell-carved drawer attributed to “Spike” may have been made in the same cabinet shop as that offered here. Both feature closely related front skirt shaping with pendant lobes and distinctive astragal-shaped cut-outs at each end as well as the same combination of tops with cusped corners, fluted quarter columns, shell-carved knees and robustly shaped ball-and-claw feet (see Christie’s New York, 24 September 2012, lot 41). The table offered here is further distinguished by its original pierced brasses and for another dressing table with brasses of the same design, see Treasures of State, op. cit., cat. 29.
The dressing table was previously owned by Cecil Franklin Backus (1885-1966), who formed an important collection of early American furniture during the 1920s and early 1930s. During these years, Backus resided in Wilmington and Greenville, Delaware and would have been influenced by several of his work colleagues who were avid collectors as well as Henry Francis du Pont who was forming the renowned collection of Winterthur around the same time. For more on Backus, see Sotheby's New York, 22 January 2011, lot 124.
