Lot 470
Very Rare and Historic American Rococo Carved and Laminated Rosewood Parlor Suite, c. 1850-1860, attr. to John Henry Belter, New York, incl. triple back sofa, pair of meridiennes and four side chairs, each with carved historical bust, scrolled and pierced back, shaped seat, foliate apron, turned fluted legs, casters, later Napoleonic bee upholstery, sofa h. 44 in., w. 73 1/2 in., d. 30 in.; meridiennes h. 38 in., w. 42 in., d. 24 in. Provenance: The Service Collection, Estate of Grant A. Oakes, Warren, OH. Ill.: Dubrow, Richard. American Furniture of the 19th c., 1840-1888. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, pp. 110-112; Schwartz, Marvin. Edward Stanek, and Douglas True. The Furniture of John Henry Belter and the Rococo Revival. New York: Dutton, pp. 48, 49, 60, 66. Note: The carved visages on this suite by the illustrious cabinetmaker John Henry Belter are particularly rare within his known body of work. The méridiennes crest with busts of English poets William Shakespeare and John Milton. The chair crests with ancient and Renaissance poets Homer, Sophocles, Dante and Petrarch. This settee features political luminaries George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and a statesman with an à la Cesar hairstyle, likely the Marquis de Lafayette, Franklin Pierce, or Napoleon Bonaparte. Lafayettes grand tour of the United States in 1824 and 1825 as a returning hero of the Revolutionary War created a frenzy of popular adoration. Portraits from this period by Ary Scheffer (for the U.S. House of Representatives) and Matthew Jouett (for the Kentucky statehouse) show General Lafayette tonsured in the modern style seen here. The settee as a whole may have been designed to contemplation of industry, courage, and fortitude. The only other example of this type from Belters workshop is an ebony center table (now reduced) with carved ivory busts of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and Franklin Pierce in niches on the apron which was part of the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1853. Unlike the exhibition table, the seating offered here has portraits carved integrally and executed within Belters shop, not added from an outside source. Ref.: http://history.house.gov/Blog/Detail/15032391921; Schwartz. Ibid. p. 73, fig. 52.
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| $100 | $499 | $25 |
| $500 | $999 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $2,999 | $100 |
| $3,000 | $9,999 | $250 |
| $10,000 | $49,999 | $500 |
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| $2,000,000 | $2,999,999 | $15,000 |
| $3,000,000 + | $20,000 |