Cellarette Maker: Unknown

1810–20

American Decorative Arts

By appointment, Hume Furniture Study

The sarcophagus-shaped case of this specialized form for storing alcohol stands on top of two painted and gilt female sphinxes with high ruffs and lions' bodies. In turn, the sphinxes perch on a platform supported by winged paw feet. Classical motifs from Egypt to Rome were a primary source for design after the Revolutionary War.

Medium

Exterior, rosewood veneer; interior, mahogany veneer; sphinxes, other elements, eastern white pine; rear legs, soft maple; original inlay, stringing, brass and a black dense hardwood, probably ebony; left rear flower, fruit basket, alder (Alnus spp.)

Dimensions

30 3/16 × 34 7/16 × 21 7/16 in. (76.6 × 87.5 × 54.5 cm)

Credit Line

Mabel Brady Garvan Collection, by exchange

Accession Number

1966.126

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 object and a card table (1966.127), also now at Yale, were owned originally by merchant Stephen Bull Munn (1766-1856) of New York; They descended in the Munn family until they were acquired by dealer Paul Cooley of Hartford, CT. Cooley sold them to Israel Sack, Inc., New York, in 1962, from whom they were acquired by exchange in 1966. By exchange in 1966 to Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Wendy A. Cooper, Classical Taste in America (New York: Abbeville Press, 1993), 136, 138, fig. 98
  • 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), 55, 413, 442–44, no. 229, pl. 25
  • John S. Bowman, American Furniture (New York: Exeter Books, 1985), 72
  • Joan Pearson Watkins Revocable Trust and Elizabeth Bidwell Bates, American Furniture:1620 to the Present (New York: Richard Marek Publishers, 1981), 276, ill
  • Patricia E. Kane, "American Furniture in the Yale University Art Gallery," Antiques 117, no. 5 (June 1980), 1324, pl. XII
  • Dean A. Fales, Jr., American Painted Furniture, 1660–1880, eds. Robert Bishop and Cyril I. Nelson (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1972), 159, fig. 256
  • Joseph Aronson, The New Encyclopedia of Furniture (New York: Crown Publishers, 1967), 28, fig. 86
  • Classical America, 1815–1845: An Exhibition at the Newark Museum, exh. cat. (Newark, N.J.: Newark Museum, 1963), 40, 75, no. 14, ill
  • Richard H Randall, Jr., "Sources of Empire Style," Antiques 4 (April 1963), 452, fig. 1
  • American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Highland House Publishers, 1957–89), vol. 1, p. 212, no. 544, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

botanical

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