An Important American Southern Federal Inlaid Cherrywood Sideboard, c 1800, the serpentine body with one long drawer over a conforming double door cupboard flanked by curved cupboard doors, each cupboard door bordered in lightwood inlay where terminal ends are a diagonal drop, the drawer facade with a line inlaid stile, the two flanking sections have the same inlay borders as the cupboards; each drawer and door has an inlaid teardrop escutcheon in lightwood, raised on four tapered legs with lightwood line inlay and cuffs, height 41 in., length 72.5in. , depth 27 in. E15000-25000 Note: This sideboard appears to be one of three related Natchez, Mississippi sideboards. In addition to the present example, a second survives in a private Natchez collection, and a third was destroyed in Hurricane Camille. The piece is crafted of solid cherry and cherry veneers on Southern hard pine. The secondary woods have been documented by microanalysis as hard pine and black walnut in the drawer sides. This sideboard has the cachet of having formerly been in the collection of Felix Herwig Kuntz, the dean of the pioneer collectors of Americana in Louisiana. Mr. Kuntz found this piece in Liberty, Mississippi, and was told that it was made by an itinerant minister-cabinetmaker. Natchez, however, was the only place in Mississippi at the time of construction with the population, money and craftsmen to produce a piece of this sophistication. Another interesting discussion of Natchez furniture may be found in Art in Mississippi 1790-1980, which refers to Bethany Lambdin and Helen Cain's 1984-1985 survey of furniture made in Mississippi from 1790 to 1865: Since few pieces are signed by the maker, the determination of origin is based on the use of local woods, the presence of cabinetmakers in the area (known through newspaper advertisements and estate inventories) and family histories. They attribute three Natchez sideboards to cabinetmaker William Lowry. Patti Carr Black, Art in Mississippi 1790-1980, pp. 38-39. Neal Auction Company is grateful to Professor H. Parrott Bacot for his invaluable assistance in the preparation of this catalogue entry.