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Treasures of the Winter Antiques Show, Part 2
77 Plays8 years ago
In this episode of Curious Objects & the stories behind them, part two of our special coverage of the 2018 Winter Antiques Show, Ben Miller gets the dish on mace-like molinets, impeccably-preserved highboys, gem-encrusted jewelry, and five-legged card tables, among other masterpieces.
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Transcript
Auction Mishap: Mace or Mullinette?
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The auctioneer didn't know what it was and so cataloged it as a mace, which is a delightful, wholesome, beautiful works of art.
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They wanted to show that they were aware of history and......extra feature that distinguishes it among maybe thousands of deaths....all of the elements of this piece fall together so beautifully.
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The proportions......one of those rare outliers to find a piece that has never been touched.
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Chippendale design is flowing graceful line.
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Every top, every table made in New York is going to be exactly the same shape.
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Made in the 90th century...
Introduction to Curious Objects with Ben Miller
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Welcome back to Curious Objects and the Stories Behind Them, brought to you by the magazine Antiques.
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I'm your host, Ben
Legacy of Freeman's Auction House
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Miller.
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Before we start, I'd like to bring your attention to America's oldest auction house, Freeman's.
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Located in Center City, Philadelphia, Freeman's has been telling the story of valued objects and collections since 1805.
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Today, Freemans believes in a unique standard of one-on-one service, and their tradition of excellence has benefited generations of private collectors, institutions, advisors, estates, and
Dorrance Hamilton's Collection: Cezanne to Audubon
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museums.
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This April, Freemans will bring to auction the collection of Dorrance Dodo H. Hamilton.
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With works by Cezanne, Garber, and Audubon, the collection features fine European and American paintings, furniture and decorative arts, and jewelry from the venerable philanthropist and Philadelphia fixture.
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For more information, visit Freeman's online at freemansauction.com.
Winter Antiques Show Overview
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This is part two of my double episode from the Winter Antiques Show at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan.
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I have another eight dealers for you this time and a great slate of objects.
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Like always, you can see pictures online at themagazineantiques.com slash podcast.
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That's themagazineantiques.com slash podcast.
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And just a quick reminder, please send me your feedback at podcast at themagazineantiques.com.
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I'd really like to know what you're enjoying about the podcast and what you might like to see me do differently.
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And of course, suggestions for future guests.
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Also, a huge thank you to everyone who has left a rating on iTunes.
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That really helps me bring the show to new listeners.
The Beekman Group Table: Craftsmanship and Attribution
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We're starting out today with an old New York firm called Bernard and S. Dean Levy.
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Frank Levy, one of its current owners, told me about a curious New York-made table from a group of furniture sometimes referred to as the Beekman Group.
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The Cliff Notes backstory here is that the group was made for the Beekman family in the second half of the 18th century.
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It was only in the 1990s that a researcher named Lauren Brunk discovered a record naming the probable maker of the group a fellow named William Proctor.
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You'll hear Frank mention a Winterthur student researching Beekman.
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He's talking there about Lauren.
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Let's jump in.
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We're talking about a five-legged table.
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And why does it have five legs?
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That's the question I was hoping you wouldn't ask because we don't really know.
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It's peculiar to New York primarily.
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I think there are a couple of English examples that have been mistaken as New York.
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that are out there, but it's peculiar to New York in this period.
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Which period is that?
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This is the Chippennail period.
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So these tables generally date from 1750 to 1775.
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What's nice about the fifth leg is that that's the swing leg.
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That's the one that moves, so that at all times there are four legs holding it up.
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So when you look at it from a distance, if it's open, you still see all the legs moving.
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supporting the table.
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Because the cover is, or the top is hinged so that it can fold out to make a table twice the size of the original table.
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Exactly, a games table.
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And actually this one is, it's hinged so that when you open it up, there's a felt or a bays on the interior, little cups, little scoops for your chips.
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People gambled on this table?
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People actually may have gambled on this table.
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I'm shocked.
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We think they played a game called Whist, W-H-I-S-T.
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Oh, sure.
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But I have no idea how that game is played.
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I mean, I know poker.
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I don't know Whist.
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Well, let's stick to the table then and leave the card games aside.
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What's the material?
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The material is the primary wood or the wood that you see is all mahogany, which had to be imported into New York to be made.
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The secondary woods or the inside woods, the guts of it, are a combination.
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The back rail, the rail that swings, that allows the leg to move is oak.
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And it's oak because that's a strong wood that can withstand all the movement and then the wooden hinge
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won't wear down and then you start losing legs or having problems.
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There's some tulip poplar in there, which is local to New York, and there's a little bit of white pine as well.
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And there's a group of tables that this belongs to, is that right?
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Yes.
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This is a table made in New York City, and there are four main groups of tables made in New York City.
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This belongs to a group that used to be called the Beekman Group.
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There were a pair of tables made for the Beekman family that used to be at New York historical and now in a private collection.
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They're made the same way this one is made.
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They all kind of look the same because every top, every table made in New York, doesn't matter who made them, is going to be exactly the same shape top.
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So somebody either had a template that was being shared or there's some guy making tops for these things.
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You know, not just the cabinet maker making the case, but there's
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top maker out there, one of those two possibilities.
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What's happened since the Beekman Group was called the Beekman Group is a Wineter student went through the Beekman papers, which are at New York Historical and are a treasure trove of information.
Jewels by Carlo Giuliano: A Study in Color and Significance
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She found a bill
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Not a bill, but sort of a receipt from the Beekman family to a man named William Proctor for one card table, one china table, and I think it's 11 Windsor chairs.
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The Beekman pair would make you think, well, there's only one table there, but the Beekman pair are two very different tables, clearly made as a pair to be next to each other, but made it two different times.
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So the fact that they're buying one table from this man, Proctor...
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I think means that he is the maker of this group.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Fascinating.
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Attribution in American furniture is always so difficult.
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It's very interesting to have a little bit of documentation around this one.
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It's a beautiful piece, and I'm grateful to you for sharing it with us.
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Pleasure.
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Thanks for asking.
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Next up is the only piece of jewelry in today's episode.
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You'll hear us talk about the jeweler's signature, which refers to a tiny mark either stamped or engraved on a piece of jewelry to identify the maker.
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Marks like this were rare in the 19th century when this piece was made, and as you'll hear, they can be an important feature to look at if you're trying to determine whether a piece is authentic or fake.
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Here's Joan Boning.
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I am fourth generation at James Robinson.
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We are a business that's been around since 1912.
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And currently, my son is also in the firm.
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So he's fifth generation.
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And you're here in New York.
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We're here in New York.
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We're at 480 Park Avenue, which is at 58th Street.
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And we're looking at a necklace and a brooch.
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Necklace and a Brooch by Carlo Giuliano.
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It's an exquisite piece of jewelry, the necklace, which it's unusual because it's set with multicolored zircons and diamonds as well as decorated in black and white enamel.
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It's very splashy.
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The colors do make it a little fun.
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Exactly.
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It's lots of fun and I think it's quite wearable.
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But it kind of is an interesting piece because it's unique.
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I've never seen another one quite like it.
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All of the elements of this piece fall together so beautifully.
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The proportions, the colors, the way they are varied, but yet they connect to each other in a way that other jewelers weren't able to do.
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He just had better foresight in terms of putting things together.
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And give us a time period here.
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Well, this particular piece dates from around 1875.
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And actually, we purchased it from a woman back in the early 80s who came in.
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The piece originally was in a box.
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The box had a necklace and a blank space for a brooch.
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And the woman said, no, I don't have the brooch, I just have the necklace.
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And we purchased it and sold it to a collector.
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And I said to him, well, if by chance the brooch ever shows up, of course I'll call you.
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And never thinking that a few years later the lady's sister would show up and said, oh,
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my sister sold you a necklace a few years ago.
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I have the brooch."
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So I immediately purchased the brooch, immediately called my client, reconnected the two pieces.
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Unfortunately, the box was lost in a flood in their vault.
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I admonished him for not at least saving the box as badly damaged as it was because we also know that by having it in its original case, that would also increase its value.
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What else is there to say about this?
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Well, one of the rare things about it is not only the design of it and the wearability, but the fact that it has five signatures.
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Five signatures.
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Five signatures.
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And how many signatures do you normally see?
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Normally, I've only seen one, and I've only seen one other necklace that had two.
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One was on the clasp, and one was on the front of the piece.
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I don't know why this particular piece, other than it's wonderful, has five signatures, but it does make me wonder if many of the pieces began their life with more than one signature and somewhere along the way something happened or they were taken apart and other pieces were recreated.
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I can't confirm that, I just wonder why this piece, I've seen other wonderful pieces that he did that only had one signature.
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Because adding a Giuliano signature to an otherwise normal, ordinary piece would certainly add a lot of that.
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Would change its value completely.
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And is the signature a difficult thing to forge?
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Well, his signature is a CG which is cast on a small oval disc so my assumption would be that a good jeweler could probably do that but it would probably be something that no one would want to try to do because if people got wind of the fact that there were faked marks, this jewelry doesn't carry enough cachet.
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It's not like Cartier.
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People have to know who Giuliano is and have to understand his jewelry.
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It's a little bit academic.
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Exactly.
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And so it would be easier to take a marked link off of an existing piece and create a new piece around that.
00:10:26
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Well, thanks so much for joining me.
00:10:27
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My pleasure.
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Thanks for coming to visit us at the show.
00:10:34
Speaker
This next object draws us away from precious materials and the aristocracy and into the realm of the everyday, an object designed for practical use, whose maker nevertheless invested great care into its crafting.
American Folk Art and Nantucket Baskets
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Here is David Shorsch.
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The name of your form is... It's David A. Shorsch and Eileen M. Smiles American Antiques, and we're based out of Woodbury, Connecticut.
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And you're coming down to New York for the show and you've brought with you some very interesting objects of an eclectic variety of origins.
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What would you say is the genre that you deal in?
00:11:08
Speaker
Well, we deal in high-end American folk art and it covers a variety of mediums.
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Speaker
From textiles to baskets to painted furniture, Pennsylvania German objects, folk paintings, and folk sculpture.
00:11:24
Speaker
That pretty much is the overview of the material.
00:11:27
Speaker
And today we're talking about a basket.
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And a piece of shaker furniture.
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Speaker
Oh, right.
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Very much in vogue these days.
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Speaker
Yes.
00:11:34
Speaker
But we've decided to talk about a basket.
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Yes.
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And this is a small basket.
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Speaker
What is it, about a foot in diameter?
00:11:44
Speaker
Well, you're very good.
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Speaker
It's 11 and a half inches in diameter.
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Okay, okay.
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Speaker
And it's a circular form with a rounded bottom.
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Right.
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It has a handle carved from a single piece of wood.
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Steam-bent.
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Speaker
Steam bent.
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Speaker
Steam bent.
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In order to achieve that, it's probably an oak handle.
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Oak as being a wiry wood like hickory or ash works very well to be steam bent.
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Speaker
And it also has a cover.
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Speaker
Yes.
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Speaker
That has a knob on the top of it.
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Speaker
Made of sycamore.
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Speaker
It's turned sycamore.
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Speaker
The bottom board and the finial are made of sycamore.
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And the body and the cover are both woven.
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Correct.
00:12:22
Speaker
This is what's called in the field a Nantucket lightship basket.
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And many people may be familiar with Nantucket baskets because a kind of lady's purse was developed in Nantucket.
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Late 40s into the 50s became wildly popular.
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Speaker
They still make reproductions today.
00:12:42
Speaker
Those were really invented and developed by a
00:12:46
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a Filipino immigrant to the island named Jose Formosa Reyes.
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Speaker
And Reyes took a basket like this, which was made earlier in the classic style, and reinvented it in an oval shape with a hinged lid with leather.
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Speaker
woven leather thong hinges and often has a top with carved scrimshaw ivory ornamentation.
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Speaker
Oh, right.
00:13:16
Speaker
Like a half of a sperm whale or a floral device.
00:13:19
Speaker
So a much more elaborate object than what we're looking at.
00:13:21
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And also designed specifically for the tourist trade in large quantities.
00:13:28
Speaker
Whereas this one would have been made for personal use?
00:13:30
Speaker
This was either made as a presentation piece by the maker or custom designed because it's very rare in this genre of Nantucket basketry to find one with a lid.
00:13:46
Speaker
So the thing that makes this basket special, of course, is the beautiful craftsmanship and the design and so forth.
00:13:52
Speaker
But 99% of all Nantucket light chip baskets
00:13:58
Speaker
look like this without a lid.
00:14:01
Speaker
It's that this has this extra feature that distinguishes it among, you know, maybe thousands of baskets.
00:14:09
Speaker
And it would have been used to carry around personal effects.
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah, we don't know.
00:14:13
Speaker
I'm not sure it was ever used.
00:14:14
Speaker
No, I see.
00:14:15
Speaker
And it's made by a maker called Arthur D. Williams, and he lived from 1865, I believe, to 1940.
00:14:24
Speaker
Anyway, what's interesting about these baskets and how they derived their name is Nantucket, being located where it is, there were a lot of shipping accidents.
00:14:34
Speaker
So they actually had something called the South Shoal Light Ship, which was in a sense a portable lighthouse.
00:14:42
Speaker
It was a ship exclusively designed to hold a light.
00:14:46
Speaker
So it was in a location where they could not have a lighthouse.
00:14:50
Speaker
So they would anchor this ship with the light in this very dangerous area to protect incoming vessels.
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And sailors and workers there stayed there for months on end.
00:15:05
Speaker
And sometime in the, I don't know, 1860s, 1870s, and we're not sure who, it may be Captain Ray, it's...
00:15:16
Speaker
It's a dispute among scholars as to who exactly invented the Nantucket lightship basket, but they started creating these extremely finely woven baskets that have certain features that distinguish them from all other American-made baskets.
00:15:32
Speaker
What's interesting about Nantucket baskets, and for someone who might be an aspiring collector, is that this is a field where a new collector could begin buying one for under $1,000.
00:15:44
Speaker
and get into the field because these were made over successive generations.
00:15:49
Speaker
So as they get newer, it's generally more affordable, and they're still making them on the island today.
00:15:54
Speaker
Well, David, thanks so much for the education.
00:15:55
Speaker
My pleasure.
00:15:57
Speaker
You bet.
00:16:00
Speaker
Picture yourself in an effete and refined Victorian garden.
00:16:03
Speaker
You see the manicured grass and pruned cypress, marble stairs and fountains, and of course, sitting atop walls and plinths, classical statues.
Garden Statues and Needlework Memorials
00:16:12
Speaker
Where do these statues come from and how are they made?
00:16:15
Speaker
My next guest gave me the inside scoop.
00:16:18
Speaker
I'm here with Barbara Israel of Barbara Israel Garden Antiques.
00:16:22
Speaker
And we're standing in front of a very interesting statue, which looks almost as if it could be ancient Greek or Roman.
00:16:29
Speaker
Well, she does imitate that.
00:16:33
Speaker
No question, this is a classical figure.
00:16:36
Speaker
And she's representing the applied arts.
00:16:38
Speaker
In her right hand, she has a sculptor's tool.
00:16:43
Speaker
And in her left hand, she has a palette, even with the little bits of paint left on it.
00:16:49
Speaker
And she is the applied arts.
00:16:53
Speaker
There were originally four of them that would have been applied arts, industry, trade, and commerce, and science.
00:17:00
Speaker
Five of them.
00:17:01
Speaker
And she is not actually ancient.
00:17:04
Speaker
No, she was made in the 19th century, or close to the end of it at least, by a German company called Wilroy & Bosch, and she is marked such on her base, which is something I care about enormously, knowing what these pieces are.
00:17:19
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Because garden pieces were made in replica, so sometimes you just get something that floats in and it isn't marked, and it's hard to figure it out.
00:17:28
Speaker
And what purpose was she made for?
00:17:30
Speaker
Purely decorative to be placed in a garden?
00:17:34
Speaker
Yes, she would have been exactly that.
00:17:37
Speaker
And she's made of stoneware, so that is a hard-fired clay object.
00:17:43
Speaker
And usually they fire it longer, so it's better in the winter if you're in the northeast where we are.
00:17:52
Speaker
Stronger and is less porous, so you don't have water leaking in and freezing and causing problems.
00:18:02
Speaker
When she was first made, was it an expensive object?
00:18:06
Speaker
Was it something that only an aristocratic house would have had, or was it made for a more popular market?
00:18:14
Speaker
I think it would have been more on the elite side because it might not have been all that expensive compared to today's prices of these things, but it would not have been something to have in a humble garden.
00:18:27
Speaker
One of the reasons people collected these sorts of statues that replicated ancient subjects was because they wanted to show that they were aware of history and they were erudite people.
00:18:41
Speaker
And I imagine the same could be said of some of your clients.
00:18:46
Speaker
Yes, that's true.
00:18:48
Speaker
And I think, you know, just as you're proud to have an antique inside the house, people are really, really excited about having objects in their garden, sculptural objects.
00:19:01
Speaker
And they add so much, especially if there's a new garden and you put an old statue in it, it makes the new garden look as if it's been there for years.
00:19:11
Speaker
Well, thanks so much for talking to me, Barbara.
00:19:13
Speaker
You're most welcome.
00:19:14
Speaker
My pleasure.
00:19:25
Speaker
Let's take a quick break and thank our sponsor, America's oldest auction house, Freemans.
00:19:29
Speaker
Located in Center City, Philadelphia, Freemans has been telling the story of valued objects and collections since 1805.
00:19:34
Speaker
Today, Freemans believes in a unique standard of one-on-one service, and their tradition of excellence has benefited generations of private collectors, institutions, advisors, estates, and museums.
00:19:45
Speaker
Freemans holds more than two dozen auctions a year across all collecting categories, from American furniture and decorative arts to modern and contemporary art.
00:19:53
Speaker
With international experience and comprehensive knowledge of market conditions, the specialists at Freeman's work closely with consignors and collectors to offer unparalleled assistance in the sale and purchase of fine art, furniture, decorative arts, jewelry, books, and more.
00:20:07
Speaker
All of Freeman's auctions and catalogs are published online.
00:20:10
Speaker
Their app, Freeman's Live, is a complimentary service that allows users to bid live in real time from any mobile device or desktop.
00:20:16
Speaker
Freeman's is currently inviting consignments for their spring 2018 auction season.
00:20:21
Speaker
For those clients outside the Philadelphia area, Freeman's regional representatives in New England, Southeast, and West Coast areas are available to assist you with every step of the consignment process.
00:20:32
Speaker
Let Freeman's help tell your story.
00:20:34
Speaker
For more information or to set up a complimentary and confidential auction valuation of a single object or an entire collection, please visit Freeman's online at freemansauction.com.
00:20:45
Speaker
So many categories of collectible antiques are dominated by male craftsmen, furniture, jewelry, silver, fine art.
00:20:51
Speaker
But my next guest specializes in an area dominated by female artisans, namely early American and English needlework.
00:20:59
Speaker
The great thing about needlework, to my mind, is that so many of these pieces tell their own stories with evocative images and descriptive text.
00:21:06
Speaker
Here is Stephen Huber of the Old Saybrook, Connecticut Gallery, Stephen and Carol Huber.
00:21:12
Speaker
These young girls would go to school, they were highly academically trained, but also along with that they would do needlework, which was basically like taking art classes.
00:21:23
Speaker
So this little girl, Deborah Keith, from Massachusetts in the early 1800s, around 1806,
00:21:30
Speaker
did a beautiful little memorial that if you glance at it, it looks like a nativity scene.
00:21:35
Speaker
It's just the sweetest thing.
00:21:37
Speaker
It's about a foot by a foot roughly and it has black Eglomise glass around it and the inner circle depicts three people that look like Wiseman if you first look at it, kneeling down and a little baby and then a woman on the other side.
00:21:53
Speaker
But what it amounts to, after doing some research on it, we discovered that Deborah Keith, who did this sampler, had a little baby sister that died, and she was only an infant.
00:22:04
Speaker
And this is depicting the sweetest little rendition of her three brothers paying homage to the little sister and herself.
00:22:14
Speaker
So she's kneeling on one side of the little baby, and the three brothers are kneeling in parallel to each other on the other side, and...
00:22:21
Speaker
And up in the sky, there are some figures there as well.
00:22:25
Speaker
In the sky, right up above the little baby, are four little angels holding a ring with a little star in the middle.
00:22:32
Speaker
It's indicative of the little baby going to heaven, her soul.
00:22:36
Speaker
And it's just, it's very moving.
00:22:39
Speaker
And these girls, they would go to school and they would be expected to do a memorial.
00:22:44
Speaker
And this is an example of that.
00:22:46
Speaker
And it wasn't necessarily because somebody recently died.
00:22:49
Speaker
Often they would do the memorial and dedicate it to maybe a little brother or sister that died.
00:22:54
Speaker
Maybe the girl was six years old when their brother or sister died, and maybe she's doing this memorial when she's 16 years old and dedicating it to them.
00:23:01
Speaker
But anyway, this whole Silk and Brodery Memorial thing, they tend to be just sweet, delightful, wholesome, beautiful works of art.
00:23:10
Speaker
And this is just another example of that.
00:23:12
Speaker
There's a fantastical looking city in the background.
00:23:16
Speaker
Is that supposed to depict a real place?
00:23:18
Speaker
I doubt that that city depicts a real place.
00:23:21
Speaker
It may be indicative of heaven.
00:23:26
Speaker
In my father, there's many houses.
00:23:29
Speaker
I don't know how that phrase goes.
00:23:31
Speaker
In my father's house, there are many mansions or something like that.
00:23:34
Speaker
It may be indicative of that, but it looks like a...
00:23:37
Speaker
town scene, but it's a little heavenish looking too.
00:23:41
Speaker
So I just don't know the answer to that.
00:23:43
Speaker
Tell me a little about the research behind this piece.
00:23:46
Speaker
You have the name of the girl who created it, Deborah Keith.
00:23:50
Speaker
We have the name and we knew where she was from and we did genealogical research and discovered that all the information that I was just relaying to you about having an infant sister that died and the three brothers and it all just clicked and say, wow, that's like an unusual one-off thing.
00:24:07
Speaker
And it's really a work of art.
00:24:08
Speaker
I mean, from a distance, you could easily mistake it for a painting.
00:24:12
Speaker
As a lot of these silk embroideries have that same scenario about them.
00:24:17
Speaker
You look at them, you think it's a painting.
00:24:19
Speaker
You come up and realize that it's needlework and watercolor on silk.
00:24:23
Speaker
And so anyway, that's about this piece.
00:24:26
Speaker
Well, thanks very much for joining me.
00:24:28
Speaker
Okay.
00:24:28
Speaker
It's been a pleasure.
00:24:29
Speaker
Thank you.
00:24:34
Speaker
There's no antique form that's more iconic than a chair.
00:24:37
Speaker
My first ever guest on this podcast talked with me about a chair.
00:24:41
Speaker
It's simple, intuitive, functional, and universal.
00:24:44
Speaker
But the way it's designed and made can tell you a lot about the people who created it and
Furniture Design: Chippendale and Highboys
00:24:49
Speaker
used it.
00:24:49
Speaker
So I was excited to speak with Kevin Tolomieri of Nathan Liverant and Son about this 18th century Pennsylvania chair.
00:24:57
Speaker
And where are you based?
00:24:58
Speaker
We're out of Colchester, Connecticut.
00:25:00
Speaker
And you've brought with you a chair from Pennsylvania.
00:25:05
Speaker
And this dates to about what period?
00:25:09
Speaker
The chair dates from between 1765 to 1780.
00:25:13
Speaker
It's a very exuberant Chippendale style.
00:25:18
Speaker
So it really shows that mature version of the American interpretation of Chippendale.
00:25:23
Speaker
So what exactly does that look like for listeners who aren't here with us right now?
00:25:27
Speaker
Well, the idea with Chippendale design is to really create an interaction of flowing graceful lines.
00:25:34
Speaker
You really look for an activated space, something where there's serpentine curves and carving, and the chair is really going into all different directions all at once.
00:25:46
Speaker
You have a serpentine shaped crest with backwards flaring ears, a central carved shell that's flanked by scrolled volutes that are deeply carved into the crest.
00:25:58
Speaker
And that's supported by a serpentine shaped and pierced splat that really has curly cues and returns and points and spurs, all sorts of decoration, but put together into a unified design.
00:26:14
Speaker
So what gives this away as an American chair as opposed to an English chair?
00:26:18
Speaker
Well, that's a good question because the design and the name Chippendale comes from Thomas Chippendale, who was the English designer.
00:26:26
Speaker
And the splat is really right out of Thomas Chippendale's design book.
00:26:31
Speaker
But this is an American version because it's a little more simplified throughout the whole chair than what you would expect to see in England.
00:26:40
Speaker
And you combine that with the fact that it's made out of native walnut.
00:26:44
Speaker
That was a primary wood used in Philadelphia and on certain parts of the East Coast that has great character and quality, depth of color, and really fine grain.
00:27:00
Speaker
And so aside from the wood, which is local to Philadelphia, what else tells you that this is from Philadelphia?
00:27:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:07
Speaker
Well, you get that combination of the placement and style of carving of the shells, the combination with the shells and the scrolled volutes.
00:27:19
Speaker
And I say shells plural.
00:27:21
Speaker
This chair is also known as a four-shell chair.
00:27:25
Speaker
And you have one shell carved in the crest.
00:27:28
Speaker
one shell carved in the center of the front seat rail, and then two shells carved, one on each knee of the cabriole legs.
00:27:37
Speaker
So that particular design and layout of the shells and placement throughout the chair is particular to Philadelphia.
00:27:46
Speaker
Do you know anything about the provenance of the chair?
00:27:48
Speaker
We don't know.
00:27:49
Speaker
Unfortunately, we don't know where this chair came from.
00:27:54
Speaker
But it was made in Philadelphia by one of their skilled craftsmen.
00:27:58
Speaker
We don't know who owned it, but it was certainly a wealthy and well-established family that was purchasing their furniture in the latest fashion in that mid to late 18th century time.
00:28:10
Speaker
Is it comfortable to sit in?
00:28:12
Speaker
Why don't you give it a shot?
00:28:14
Speaker
You can tell me.
00:28:15
Speaker
I mean, they did design these for sitting and for use in the household.
00:28:21
Speaker
And a good place to sit and have dinner.
00:28:23
Speaker
Not too shabby.
00:28:24
Speaker
This is going to force me to adopt the good posture that my grade school teacher has always failed to instill in me.
00:28:31
Speaker
You do tend to sit up straight and correct.
00:28:34
Speaker
Well, Kevin, thanks so much for talking to me.
00:28:37
Speaker
It's been my pleasure.
00:28:38
Speaker
Thanks for stopping by.
00:28:43
Speaker
We talk a lot in the antiques world about provenance.
00:28:45
Speaker
After all, half the fun of an antique is the connection you can feel with its past owners.
00:28:50
Speaker
Every little fact you can turn up about an object's history, even if it's only where and when it was made, makes it that much more compelling.
00:28:56
Speaker
The eponymous Jeffrey Toulou of Jeffrey Toulou Antiques brought two pieces to the show that share a remarkably complete provenance.
00:29:04
Speaker
In fact, they've been together since birth.
00:29:07
Speaker
I'll let him tell the story.
00:29:09
Speaker
Yes, so the two pieces I have in the booth that are highboys are both from the same family.
00:29:16
Speaker
They were made in Woodbury, Connecticut in about 1783 and have remained in the Stiles family ever since.
00:29:24
Speaker
So right off the bat to have two pieces with the same provenance.
00:29:27
Speaker
That's incredible provenance.
00:29:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:29
Speaker
The high boy, which is illustrated in the magazine antiques, and the one that's in center in the booth, is most notable for its state of preservation.
00:29:39
Speaker
It has original finish, original brass, and it's just one of those rare outliers to find a piece that has never been touched.
00:29:48
Speaker
So coupled with the provenance, the rarity of having a piece remain in the same family is a great opportunity for a museum or a great collector to own one of, I think, the better pieces I've seen on the marketplace.
00:30:05
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:30:07
Speaker
And so physically, it's an imposing piece, quite large.
00:30:13
Speaker
And the pediment has some interesting spiral pieces.
00:30:20
Speaker
How would you describe this?
00:30:20
Speaker
Well, the few distinct features are that the plinth, the center plinth, has a little scrolled plinth on the top below the center finial.
00:30:34
Speaker
Um, the other curious thing about these pieces are the secondary woods.
00:30:40
Speaker
They are all white oak, which is sort of not commonly seen in other New England pieces.
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:47
Speaker
Any idea why white oak might have been used?
00:30:50
Speaker
Just native wood to that area in Woodbury.
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:53
Speaker
And sorry, what was the primary wood?
00:30:55
Speaker
Primary wood is cherry.
00:30:56
Speaker
Most, again, native wood.
00:30:58
Speaker
Most of these pieces in Western Connecticut are of cherry.
00:31:01
Speaker
What elements of this are more specifically regional versus more broadly American?
00:31:07
Speaker
Well, for more rural area cabinetry, you're getting away from maybe sort of some of the center shops in the cities, which will clearly have more uniformity with the shells.
00:31:24
Speaker
Up here in Woodbury in Western Connecticut, as you can see, you have two different shells from top to bottom.
00:31:31
Speaker
And what I would call a lobed shell because the rays are rounded at the end and the shell below is a little tighter.
00:31:42
Speaker
Again, one of the distinct features with this is that the rays are coming out of a center circle rather than just a point.
00:31:53
Speaker
But the other wonderful things about Connecticut furniture in general is that they carry on a whole different form in elements that you don't see in like Boston, New York, Philadelphia furniture.
00:32:07
Speaker
Well, it's had 250 years in a happy home.
00:32:10
Speaker
I hope it finds another one soon.
00:32:12
Speaker
Thank you.
00:32:16
Speaker
I owe my next and last guest a special thank you because when I'm not podcasting, I'm actually working for him.
00:32:24
Speaker
He's been extremely supportive of the podcast.
00:32:26
Speaker
And while I know I'm biased, I have to say that he's also a pretty good antiques dealer.
00:32:32
Speaker
It's the last interview you'll hear from the Winter Antique Show, but it was actually the first one I recorded there.
Mullinette Misidentification: A Chocolate Stirrer's Tale
00:32:38
Speaker
Oh, are we live now?
00:32:40
Speaker
Hi, Tim.
00:32:42
Speaker
Do you want to introduce yourself?
00:32:44
Speaker
Sure.
00:32:45
Speaker
My name is Tim Martin and my company is SJ Shrubsole.
00:32:48
Speaker
We're silver dealers and jewelry dealers on 81st Street in New York.
00:32:53
Speaker
And for the record, would you state the relationship between you and your interviewer?
00:32:57
Speaker
Oh, and Ben is the director of research at the above-mentioned firm.
00:33:02
Speaker
And don't think just because you're my boss that I'm going to go easy on you.
00:33:05
Speaker
I would have no such expectations.
00:33:07
Speaker
What are we looking at today?
00:33:08
Speaker
we're looking at a rare george the first malinette uh... by anthony now on uh... what is a moment well a malinette is uh... effectively a whisk if if you want the sort of nearest analogy to contemporary kitchen implements uh... it is a uh... long uh... piece of silver with a wooden handle at one end and uh... fan as the sort of fins or pierced
00:33:38
Speaker
Well, it's actually a simple malinette.
00:33:39
Speaker
It simply has four fins at the bottom and really not much else.
00:33:45
Speaker
This particular malinette, which is a very, very unusual and very, very fine malinette, has at the bottom, I think it's, is it six?
00:33:55
Speaker
Yeah, six.
00:33:56
Speaker
six pierced fins, which are shaped and pierced out with sort of scrolls and little floral flourishes.
00:34:06
Speaker
And they are, the reason I make the analogy with a whisk is that the purpose of a malinette was to stir up hot chocolate.
00:34:20
Speaker
How old is this piece?
00:34:21
Speaker
It was made in 1719.
00:34:23
Speaker
And what's unusual about this as opposed to other Mullinettes?
00:34:26
Speaker
Well, these great big, well, basically it's the size.
00:34:30
Speaker
It's really colossal.
00:34:33
Speaker
In fact, kind of amusingly, it came up for a sale in a small auction in the countryside in England.
00:34:40
Speaker
And, you know, like a lot of people, the auctioneer didn't know what it was.
00:34:44
Speaker
But interestingly, he probably went online and looked for pictures of similar things and so cataloged it as a mace, which is a typically fairly massive piece of ceremonial plate that was carried in processions and has a roughly similar form.
00:35:01
Speaker
Have you ever used it as a mace?
00:35:03
Speaker
I haven't, although sometimes I've been tempted to smite you with it.
00:35:08
Speaker
I think we better leave it there.
00:35:09
Speaker
Thanks, Tim.
00:35:11
Speaker
You're welcome.
00:35:12
Speaker
Thanks.
00:35:19
Speaker
you
00:35:22
Speaker
That's it for today.
Wrap-up and Listener Engagement
00:35:23
Speaker
And that's the end of my coverage of the 2018 Winter Antique Show.
00:35:26
Speaker
These episodes were a lot of fun to put together, and I'm grateful to all the dealers who took the time to talk with me.
00:35:32
Speaker
I'm also grateful to you for listening.
00:35:34
Speaker
I'll be even more grateful if you subscribe, leave a rating on iTunes, which takes all of about 10 seconds.
00:35:40
Speaker
You can do that right now.
00:35:42
Speaker
And if you send me your feedback to podcast at themagazineantiques.com.
00:35:47
Speaker
Today's episode was produced and edited by Sammy Delati.
00:35:50
Speaker
Our music is by Trap Rabbit.
00:35:52
Speaker
And I'm your host, Ben Miller.
00:35:53
Speaker
Thanks for listening.