Provenance

Acquired in Annapolis, Md., by R.T. Haines Halsey (1865–1942), New York, for Francis P. Garvan (1875–1937), New York, before about 1929–30 [see note 1]; given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1930

Note 1: The acquisition of the Halsey collection is very complicated. Beginning in 1928, Halsey worked as Garvan’s agent in purchasing furnishings for the Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis, Maryland, and “Homewood” in Baltimore, two historic houses that Garvan had agreed to help restore. The ownership of objects Halsey purchased with Garvan’s funds was a source of confusion at that time. Halsey and Garvan exchanged several different lists of the objects that were to come to Yale, but apparently no final agreement had been reached by the time of Garvan’s unexpected death in 1937. It is therefore difficult to be precise about when Garvan formally acquired the Halsey collection. With the exception of objects purchased for the Hammond-Harwood House, all the furniture from Halsey’s collection in this catalogue was physically at the Art Gallery in 1930 as part of the Garvan Collection (David L . Barquist, American Tables and Looking Glasses in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), p. 389).