Sotheby's reports on the January Americana weeks sales
21 December 2011 – Sotheby’s annual auction of Important Americana will take place on 20 & 21 January 2012 in New York. The sale will offer American furniture, silver, folk art, prints, carpets, English pottery and Chinese export porcelain, and features several important discoveries across categories – from two previously undocumented chests by legendary cabinetmaker John Townsend, to a second iconic Ptarmigan Vase and an extremely rare Colt Model 1849 pocket revolver. The sale will be on exhibition in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries beginning 14 January, alongside the auction of Important American Schoolgirl Embroideries: The Landmark Collection of Betty Ring.
American Silver, Prints & Carpets – 20 January
The first day of the auction will be led by a group of American silver from the First Parrish Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The Church is steeped in American history: it is the oldest congregation in the current city of Boston, and one of the oldest in the United States; it was the site of the first recorded town meeting in 1633; and the present structure is one of the only colonial revival churches built in the late-19th century that is still standing. The Church will use the proceeds from the sale of its 18th century silver to move its mission in the Dorchester community into the 21st century – not only by updating the physical building and its systems, but also becoming a useful resource and active center for its multi-faceted community.
American Furniture, Folk Art, English Pottery & Chinese Export Porcelain – 21 January
American furniture in the January auction will be led by a previously
undocumented high chest of drawers by renowned cabinetmaker
John Townsend, which represents one of the most important
discoveries of American furniture to come to light in decades. Signed
and dated in 1756 when Townsend was 23 years old, The Exceptional Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Arnold Shell-Carved and Figured Mahogany High Chest of Drawers with Open Talons stands as his earliest surviving high chest, as well as one of the two earliest known works by his hand, and is likely his masterwork showing that he had completed his apprenticeship (est. $2/3 million*).
The chest was originally owned by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Arnold
(1725-1789) and Mary Oliver Arnold (1725-1762) of East
Greenwich, Rhode Island, who commissioned it on the occasion of
their marriage in 1756. It has survived in their family for 255 years,
having descended through six generations of female lines of the
Arnold-Wightman-Wickes branches of their family to the current
owner, Oliver Arnold’s great-great-great-great granddaughter. The work remains in remarkably untouched condition, and retains its original surface and all of its original parts.
The sale features a second piece by John Townsend that was previously
unpublished and unknown to scholars: The Important Jeremiah Sheldon
Chippendale Block- and Shell-Carved and Figured Mahogany Chest
of Drawers, Attributed to the Shop of John Townsend, Newport,
Rhode Island, circa 1765 (est. on request). A rare survival of the
Newport three-drawer block-and-shell chest form – only eight are known to exist today – this dynamic chest directly descended through the Sheldon family to the current owner. The piece remains in original
condition, with highly swirled and figured wood, and book- matched top, and still retains its original highly elaborate brass hardware.
Property from the Collection of Ann and Philip Holzer will offer another important work by John Townsend: a Very Fine and Rare Queen Anne Carved and Figured Mahogany Slant-Front Desk, Attributed to John Townsend, Newport, Rhode Island, circa 1770 (est. $50/100,000). Newport desks with a flat front of the form such as the present example are extremely rare. This one exhibits exceptional workmanship, a refined design, supreme carving, high quality materials and broad proportions.
The collection also includes a Fine and Rare Chippendale Carved Mahogany Lolling Chair with Blocked Feet, Goddard-Townsend School, Newport, Rhode Island, circa 1770 (pictured right, est. $80/160,000), as well as an edition of The Bloody Massacre (Brigham Plate 14) by Paul Revere – one of the one of the earliest political prints created in America, depicting a pivotal moment in the young country's struggle for independence (est. $75/125,000).
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