Sideboard Maker: Alexander Roux (American, born France, 1813–1886)

1855–65

American Decorative Arts

On view, 1st floor, American Decorative Arts before 1900

Replete with carved images of fish, game, fruit, and other verdure, as well as Renaissance Revival ornament, this sideboard probably owes its inspiration to the prize-winning sideboard designed by Hugues Protat, made by the Parisian firm of A. G. Fourdinois and exhibited in 1851 at the Crystal Palace in London. In 1853, at the New York Crystal Palace exhibition, several sideboards shown were indebted to the French example for their decoration; this example is similar to one that Roux showed.

Medium

Walnut, burl walnut veneer, American black ash, yellow-poplar

Dimensions

102 × 79 5/16 × 23 3/4 in. (259.1 × 201.4 × 60.4 cm)
other (Case): 72 5/8 × 22 1/16 in. (184.4 × 56 cm)

Credit Line

Bequest of Joseph Earl Sheffield

Accession Number

1971.115

Geography

Made in New York, New York

Culture

American

Period

19th century

Classification

Furniture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
According to tradition, this sideboard was located in the home of Joseph Earl Sheffield (1793-1882) and his wife Maria (St. John) Sheffield (1801-1899) at 6 Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, CT, and was part of the Sheffields' bequest to Yale. After Mrs. Sheffield's death in 1889, the sideboard was removed to the Sheffield Memorial Room of the Yale Sheffield Scientific School. When that room was subsequently converted to a seminar room, the sideboard was placed in storage at 285 Prospect Street. It was removed from storage to the Art Gallery in 1971.
Bibliography
  • Kenneth L. Ames, Death in the Dining Room and Other Tales of Victorian Culture (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992), 56, fig. 2.9
  • Handbook of the Collections, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 96, ill
  • Gerald W. R. Ward, American Case Furniture in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1988), 12, 52, 413, 431–34, no. 223, pl. 22
  • Kenneth L. Ames and Michael Ettema, "Unseating Style," Art & Antiques (1984), 76, ill
  • Martha Blythe Gerson, Antiques: An Encyclopedia of the Decorative Arts, ed. Paul Atterbury (London: Octopus Books, 1979), 40, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

sideboards (furniture)

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