American Week - Sotheby's

Sotheby;s just issued its press release for its January Americana sale.The sale is schedule for January 21 & 22, with the first day focused on silver, prints and Chinese export porcelains, followed on day two with a large stoneware collection, funiture, folk art and rugs. The sale includes the Searls Family Chippendale cherrywood and mahogany chest of drawers, attributed to Nathan Lombard of Sutton, MA, circa 1800 with a rather wide pre sale estimate of $250,000 to $750,000 (see image).

Sotheby's reports on furniture highlights

The sale continues with American furniture, led by An Important Searls Family Chippendale Highly Inlaid Cherrywood and Mahogany Chest of Drawers, Attributed to Nathan Lombard, Sutton, Massachusetts, circa 1800 (est. $250/700,000). An exuberant New England interpretation of the Federal style, this serpentine cherrywood chest of drawers retains its original finish and epitomizes the height of workmanship in rural Massachusetts. Few other comparable American chests are known with a shaped front and ambitious inlaid decoration of this exceptional quality. The piece has descended in the Searls family, who were in Pomfret, Connecticut by 1846. Hon. Charles Edwin Searls, whose mother Carol Matthewson Searls likely owned the work, was elected Secretary of State in 1881.

The furniture on offer features an unusually large group of bonnet-top and flat-top high chests of drawers from both New England and Philadelphia, as well as a remarkable selection of chests and tables. The high chests are led by The Winslow Family Very Fine Queen Anne Bonnet-Top Mahogany High Chest of Drawers, Attributed to Benjamin Frothingham, Charlestown, Massachusetts, circa 1770 (est. $80/160,000). Emphasizing form over ornament and retaining its original hardware, this high chest is a handsome example of the Queen Anne aesthetic. The tall architectonic form, richly figured façade and fine carving indicate that it is a product of an accomplished shop. Several distinctive regional characteristics, such as the spiral-twist finials, are found on furniture made in eastern Massachusetts. The chest is nearly identical in design to a mahogany chest at Winterthur signed by Benjamin Frothingham Jr. of Charlestown, leading to the attribution.

Another furniture highlight is An Important Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Five-Leg Serpentine-Front Games Table, New York,circa 1760 (est. $150/350,000). The hinged top opens to reveal a yellow damask playing surface fitted with candle reserves and wells. A Very Fine and Rare Chippendale Carved and Figured Maple Slant-Front Desk, possibly New Hampshire, circa 1790 is a rare example of blockfront shell-carved furniture from New England, with a unique design influenced by contemporary Massachusetts and Rhode Island furniture (est. $60/200,000). The desk is illustrated in Albert Sack’s Fine Points of Furniture as “one of the great masterpieces of curly maple furniture and a study in bold original design.”

To read the full press release and for other highlights, click HERE.