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The
PUFFY SLEEVE ARTIST
Silhouette of a Lady
Likely Massachusetts, possibly New Hampshire or Vermont, ca. 1830-1831.
Hollow-cut with woven-cloth backing, watercolor, and ink on paper. The lady with high lace collar and red ribbon, while holding a red-rose bouquet.
Profiles by the celebrated Puffy Sleeve Artist are attributed given characteristics including: the distinctive way their bodies are turned toward the front while their heads remain in profile; woman wear the fashionable dress of the period with exaggerated puffy sleeves; iconic tiny hands at their waists (woman’s left hand often grasping a book or other object (rose)); her hair comb (also the fashion for the period) being cut into the hollow work with her hair painted about it.
Based on the article, from the Magazine Antiques, July/August 2014 “UNMISTAKEN IDENTITY”, Michael & Suzanne Paine and Sam Herrup make the case that the Puffy Sleeve Artist was Ezra Wood, Buckland, Massachusetts. Works by the Puffy Sleeve Artist are among the most sought after silhouette portraits from the early 19th century.
In a period, not first, gilt frame, about 5 inches x 4. Good condition with expected toning and an old, non-image tear upper right.
Provenance includes Pam Boynton. From a private Northeast collection. .
PIPEBOX WITH RARE “HEART AND CROWN” CREST
Probably Milford area of Connecticut, 18th century.
Original red stain and varnish on white pine.
Tall and slender with the vertical emphasis favored by American colonial makers.
The walls are animated with fine hand-carved scrollwork, rising to a pierced Heart-and-Crown crest often seen on chairs from this period and region-yet very rare in pipe boxes. Characteristic of fine 18th century Connecticut work, this pipebox reflects Connecticut’s often more creative and less-restrained design than other New England regions.
Excellent condition. Notably retaining the original carved wooden pull on the drawer. Inconsequential cracks under base. About 18 ¼ inches tall. Base at the molding about 5 ½ wide x 5 deep. ..
Exceptional and
Monumental
Three-Light
Candle Sconce
.....sale pending
Northeast, ca 1780-1820, with Federal-era design language. Tinned sheet iron.
Crafted by a master tinsmith, this sconce is remarkable in design and execution. The “trifid” scalloped candle tray supports a back-plate with reeded columns centered by a punch-decorated heart, all topped by an crimped “shell”.
To make this sconce even more special, it is of an unusually large eye-catching size of about 19 inches tall! The large scale suggests possible use in a meeting house or other impressive home or building.
Edges are rolled over for strength. As with all tinned-sheet iron, the molten-tin originally gave the iron a bright, shiny, reflective surface, yet two+ centuries of just the right exposure and usage have given it a first-rate rich, dry, soft, gray-brown surface.
Excellent structural condition. The sconce may be hung or rested on a flat surface….it stands tall and straight. From a superb private Northeast collection.
JOHN JAMES
TRUMBULL ARNOLD
The Girl in Blue
Maryland. 1849
.....SOLD
Oil on canvas. In graphite script on the reverse: "Drawn by J. J. T. Arnold, Cumberland, MD. March the 15th 1849”
.
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum lists John James Trumbull Arnold (1812-1865) as an itinerant artist and ‘Professor of Penmanship and Portrait and Miniatures Painter’, working in Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and Virginia, and "Probably works executed in western Maryland will eventually be found." …..This is such a portrait. And in an unusually small size for this artist.
The COMPOSITION IS DELIGHTFUL: The charming, relaxed sitter is shown three-quarter length, seated in a red painted fancy chair, her left hand lightly resting on its top rail, fingers elegantly elongated. She wears a beautiful flowing rich indigo-blue dress with lace collar, accentuated by her tiny waist, fitted bodice, ribbons, and the folds rendered with linear highlights. Subtle touches include a small red flower tucked behind her ear, her hair in ringlets, and a rose held at her fingertips. The background is a soft neutral oval reserve-within a darker field-that direct the viewer inward.
Excellent condition with minor touchup. The surface displays an age-appropriate craquelure that does not impair the clarity of the image.
Presented in a perfectly complementary period gilt frame. Frame size about 14 ½ inches x 12 ½.
Reference: AMERICAN FOLK PORTRAITS FROM THE ABBY ALDRICH ROCKEFELLER FOLK ART CENTER: multiple paintings by Arnold illustrated and discussed.
From a superb private Northeast collection.
Outstanding
Folk Art
Sidewinder
Paddlesteamer
Sailing Ship
American, ca. 1840-1860. Oil on canvas.
A striking maritime folk art painting depicting a sidewinder under both steam and sail.
The artist captures the vessel with clarity and directness, cutting cleanly through a choppy green sea beneath a luminous sky. The American ensign flies proudly at the stern, with additional signal flags aloft. Note the eagle figurehead (sailors believed that the sharp eyes of the eagle would be constantly on the lookout for hazards).
Steam-powered sidewinder sailing ships first came into service about 1840. Initially, these ships were prone to mechanical failure, so early paddle wheelers were fitted with a full complement of masts, rigging, and sails due to captains’ mistrust of the new steam technology.
By 1860, they were reliable enough, and now significantly faster than sailing-ships, so the sailing apparatus, including spare sails, rope, and all things needed to sail were eliminated, creating space for passengers and their belongings, enabling much faster trans-Atlantic service for many more travelers. At the outbreak of the Civil War, it was found that the side paddlewheel could easily be disabled, so the paddlewheel in later ships moved behind the stern.
Terrific condition, with very minor in-painting and craquelure.
The chamfered black painted frame appears original (with a bit of frame repair on the lower edge). Overall frame size is 35 ¾ inches x 25 ¼.
Provenance includes private collections, Robert Thayer, Stephen-Douglas; Don Olson.
Painted
Beehive Bowl
.....SOLD
Rare Threaded Repair
New England, ca. 18th century.
Historic surface of original dry red paint on maple covered with what appears to be a combination of black paint and accretions from long-time use at the hearth. The combination of paint and accretions gives the bowl a unique time-worn complex surface with exceptional character.
The interest and value are amplified by threaded repair across an ancient break, mended long ago using layers of thin cord, probably cotton, threaded many times through paired holes and knotted, a remarkable example of early ingenuity showing both the artistry and resourcefulness of 18th century New England.
An excellent example of the beehive form, this bowl has a molded and chamfered rim, is footed, and shows widely-spaced slow-lathe tool marks between prominent beehive “ribs”.
With strong shrinkage across the grain, this medium-sized bowl has a diameter of about 13 7/8 x 13 3/8 inches and about 5 inches tall.
AMERICAN ORIGINALS
Chippendale
Inlaid Box
Linked to
Wright’s Tavern
.....sale pending
Boston area, ca. 1760–1790. Engraved silver nameplate “Melicent Jarvis.”
As a child growing up in Concord during the American Revolution, and later residing in Wright’s Tavern, Melicent Jarvis lived amid the unfolding legacy of the Revolution.
Link to Wright’s Tavern: Melicent Hosmer Jarvis (1768–1826) born in Concord, Massachusetts, married Deacon Francis Jarvis (1768-1840) in 1789. In 1793, Jarvis purchased Wright’s Tavern, celebrated for its vital role in the Revolution, where the Jarvis’ operated a bakery and raised their family. Wright’s Tavern is renowned as the 1774 meeting place of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, where John Hancock and Samuel Adams led discussions of independence. On April 19, 1775, following the Battle of Lexington (the “Shot Heard Round the World”) Concord’s Minutemen gathered there before challenging the British at the North Bridge. Later that day, the tavern served as headquarters for British Major John Pitcairn.
The Box: With distinctive Boston-area ogee bracket feet, this top-shelf Chippendale writing or valuables box is in mahogany with chestnut bottom board. The cockbeaded lid features an oval panel within double string inlay, centered by figured radial veneers framed by a cross-hatched border. The brass bale handle encloses the silver nameplate. Approximately 11 inches wide, 7 inches tall, and 7¼ inches deep. Retaining its original key and in outstanding condition.
This beautiful box, engraved with Melicent’s name, embodies both the skill of fine 18th-century craftsmanship and a tangible connection to one of the most storied historic landmarks of America’s founding era. Melicent and Francis rest in Concord’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Wright’s Tavern is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
REMARKABLE
GAMEBOARD
.....RARE!!
Landscape Vignettes
Found in upstate New York and likely painted there, ca. 1870-1900.
Principally parcheesi with secondary chess.
This elaborately hand-painted gameboard shows influence from the Hudson River School, a 19th-century American art movement known for its romanticized portrayals of nature and featuring aspirational European motifs.
Each corner, and home-area, are small painted stories rather than stars or geometrics typically found in parcheesi boards. Clockwise from top left: A maiden in white by a stream, evoking purity and reflection/Three figures in a boat fending off a menacing beast-related to 19th century adventure stories /A rider beneath a palm-like tree, evoking the exotic and unexplored/A dramatic mountainous landscape. The central "HOME" may show the Hudson River, with a castle-like structure, a theme borrowed from European Romantic art to suggest history and grandeur. MORE.....
AMERICAN ORIGINALS
STRIKING RARE
INLAID
CHERRY
CANDLESTAND
.....SOLD
Attributed to
NATHAN LUMBARD
Massachusetts, Worcester County (Sturbridge).....ca. 1800
Cherrywood, with serpentine-shaped top of figured cherrywood, with striped-inlaid hearts at the corners and centered by an inlaid pinwheel. The column features a deeply carved spiral fluted urn, supported by a tripod base with distinctive spurred knees.
As per Clarke Pearce (The Language of Nathan Lumbard, Antiques and Fine Art, March 2018) “Around 1790, there was a major shift afoot in cabinet shops across greater Worcester County. Printed British pattern books like George Hepplewhite’s Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide carried many new design ideas deep into the agrarian hinterlands. A new generation of young, ambitious artisans embraced the Neoclassical style, changing forever the way the region’s cabinetmakers went about their business. By the late 1790s, cabinetmakers all over central Massachusetts were making furniture in the Neoclassical style with inlaid decoration”.
Further, as stated by Chipstone about Nathan Lumbard: “….superior craftsmanship, love of complex inlay and an impeccable sense of design and proportion”.
Excellent original condition with just a minor old repair at the outer edge of one top-lobe. Original dry surface.
Diminutive size of about 25 5/8 inches tall.
A similar candlestand attributed to Lombard, yet lacking the heart-corner inlays, sold at Sotheby’s, January, 1999, lot 755, selling for much more. Also see: Crafting Excellence. The Furniture of Nathan Lumbard and His Circle, Winterthur, Christine Jackson, Brock Jobe, Clark Pearce
THE COMPASS ARTIST
Paint Decorated Box
Important Provenance
....SOLD
Lancaster County, PA, ca. 1800-1840. One of just three dozen boxes known by this celebrated artist, held in private collections or museums including Winterthur (which has 8) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The name “Compass Artist” is an attribution coined by collectors and scholars based on the use of a draftsman’s compass to lay out decorative motifs. The identity of the Compass Artist remains unknown, though analysis suggests he may have been trained as a joiner or cabinetmaker within the Pennsylvania German tradition, which emphasized both functionality and ornamentation. Comparisons have been made between the Compass Artist's work and those found in frakturs and dower chests, noting that the designs likely held symbolic meaning tied to protection, fertility, and prosperity.
As seen on this box, works by the Compass Artist are identified by a recognizable visual vocabulary: sharp scribed compass-work outlines; polychrome paint, especially Prussian-blue, Vermilion red, and white lead (the top white-field on this box is a rarity); tin hinges inserted through horizontal slits; dovetails bisected, sawn after making basic box shape; dimpled hasp and escutcheons; bottom attached with square wooden pegs.
Very good condition, overall minor wear. Unobtrusive shrinkage crack on domed lid. No inpainting or repairs. Large enough create an impact yet small enough that it can be placed almost anywhere. About 11 ¼ inches wide x 6 ¼ tall x 7 ½ deep.
REFERENCE: THE COMPASS ARTIST OF LANCASTER COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA, Wendy Cooper et al., American Furniture, Beckerdite, 2009, pp 62-87.
IMPORTANT PROVENANCE: Martha Bartlett, Washington, DC.
Country Chippendale
Tea Table:
Bold Curly Maple Top
and Striking Marlborough Legs
.....SOLD
New England, circa 1750–1780.
A rare and especially fine example of 18th-century New England country craftsmanship, this compact tea table showcases the refined simplicity of rural Chippendale furniture.
The highly figured octagonal tiger maple top—crafted from a single board—has a rich patina with a soft, complex, varnish surface. The top overhangs in just the right proportion, joined to the apron with a mix of large wooden pegs and iron nails, and a hand-cut screw.
The table stands confidently on four long, deeply molded Marlborough legs—some of the best you’ll encounter—joined to the pit-sawn apron with classic mortise and tenon construction, secured by large, hand-carved wooden pegs. The legs and apron retain remnants of bittersweet paint over black, all well-worn and patinated, and mellowed by time.
Diminutive--can be placed almost anywhere--top measuring about 20 ½ inches by 30 ½; 28 inches tall. Fine condition; minor expected imperfections. Stands tall, straight, and full of character. A label underneath reads “Olivia Preston”.
I seldom acquire furniture—yet this table was so good it called my name.