拍品专文
The only port in the state of New Hampshire, Portsmouth was a flourishing center of mercantile activity in the early years of the new republic with vessels carrying cargo to and from distant ports. Aware of imported furniture forms and trained in craft centers such as Salem and Boston, Massachusetts, Portsmouth craftsmen produced 'furniture in the newest fashion' for a clientele awaiting the latest styles.
Between 1810 and 1816 Portsmouth cabientmakers Langley Boardman and the firm of Judkins and Senter porduced sofas for some of the more prosperous merchants in town (Jobe, Portsmouth Furniture (SPNEA, 1193), pp. 378,381). As the preeminent cabinetmakers Portsmouth, these two firms probably made the majority of the sofas of the type illustrated here. This sofa design relates to examples made in coastal Massachusetts and was possibly derived in part from a plate in Thomas Sheraton's Upholsterer's Guide (London, 1808), plate 35, illustrated above (for a documented Salem sofa signed 'C and J Lemon, Salem' on the frame, see Sack, brochure no. 7, 19696).
The most elegant Federal Portsmouth sofas are fashioned with veneered crests and arms, turned and reeded arm supports, veneered reserves and reeded legs. Examples vary according to types of veneer, carved embellishments and whether the reserve is cylindrical or of tablet form. Four sofas from this specific group are documented to Portsmouth owners and include a sofa made for sea captain Henry Tredick (Jobe, fig. 106); a sofa branded by ship captain George McClean (Jobe, fig. 106B); a sofa inscribed with the name of silversmith William Simmes (now at the Henry Ford Museum and illustrated in Antiques (August, 1922):50); and a sofa owned by statesman Daniel Webster (The White House (1969), p. 84, fig. 106).
This sofa is more unusual than most of its counterparts in that it is veneered with bird's-eye maple along the crest and arms and a flame-birch reserve rather than with flame-birch throughout. In addition, the entire back of the crest is veneered as well as the front. This feature indicates that the sofa was meant to be used in the middle of a room rather than placed against a wall in a more traditional manner. The only other known sofa with these two characteristics has a history of ownership by General Henry Knox of Thomaston, Maine (Sack, Fine Points of Furniture (New York, 195_), p. 229; for a pair of sofas with bird's-eye veneered arms made for Portsmouth merchant James Rundlet, see Jobe, fig. 105). The Knox sofa, the Daniel Webster sofa and this sofa were likely made in the same shop as they share nearly identical features, particularly in the turned elements, use of a flame-birch tablet and in the instance of the Knox sofa, the use of bird's-eye veneer and exposed crest.
Because of the costs of imported upholstery, sofas were luxurious objects and one of the more expensive furniture forms in a dwelling. Placed in the formal front rooms or entrance hall, upholstered furniture was often coordinated with curtain hangings to unify the color scheme of a room. As the only full scale upholsterer in Portsmouth in the first few decades of the nineteenth century, Boston trained upholsterer William Sowersby was probably responsible for fitting upholstered furniture. Familiar with the latest upholstery fashions, Sowersby may also have taken council in Thomas Sheraton's Upholsterer's Guide which illustrated a sofa very similar to this example upholstered in striped fabric with three loose cushions, shown here. Unlike the more abundant 'Bolster and Pillow at each End, and Cushions at the Back' suggested by Thomas Chippendale for the rococo designs of the eighteenth century (Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, (London, 1762), p. 4, plates XXIX, XXX), by the more classically inspired Federal era, only the additional cushions at the back were suggested. Sofas of this period were usually decorated with a double row of brass nails, also seen in the plate from Sheraton.
Other examples with veneered crest and arms and tablet reserves include two sofas sold in these Rooms, January 23, 1988, lot 387; Parke Bernet 18, 1940, lot 240; Collection of Hyman Kaufman, part II, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, October 25-26, 1935.
Between 1810 and 1816 Portsmouth cabientmakers Langley Boardman and the firm of Judkins and Senter porduced sofas for some of the more prosperous merchants in town (Jobe, Portsmouth Furniture (SPNEA, 1193), pp. 378,381). As the preeminent cabinetmakers Portsmouth, these two firms probably made the majority of the sofas of the type illustrated here. This sofa design relates to examples made in coastal Massachusetts and was possibly derived in part from a plate in Thomas Sheraton's Upholsterer's Guide (London, 1808), plate 35, illustrated above (for a documented Salem sofa signed 'C and J Lemon, Salem' on the frame, see Sack, brochure no. 7, 19696).
The most elegant Federal Portsmouth sofas are fashioned with veneered crests and arms, turned and reeded arm supports, veneered reserves and reeded legs. Examples vary according to types of veneer, carved embellishments and whether the reserve is cylindrical or of tablet form. Four sofas from this specific group are documented to Portsmouth owners and include a sofa made for sea captain Henry Tredick (Jobe, fig. 106); a sofa branded by ship captain George McClean (Jobe, fig. 106B); a sofa inscribed with the name of silversmith William Simmes (now at the Henry Ford Museum and illustrated in Antiques (August, 1922):50); and a sofa owned by statesman Daniel Webster (The White House (1969), p. 84, fig. 106).
This sofa is more unusual than most of its counterparts in that it is veneered with bird's-eye maple along the crest and arms and a flame-birch reserve rather than with flame-birch throughout. In addition, the entire back of the crest is veneered as well as the front. This feature indicates that the sofa was meant to be used in the middle of a room rather than placed against a wall in a more traditional manner. The only other known sofa with these two characteristics has a history of ownership by General Henry Knox of Thomaston, Maine (Sack, Fine Points of Furniture (New York, 195_), p. 229; for a pair of sofas with bird's-eye veneered arms made for Portsmouth merchant James Rundlet, see Jobe, fig. 105). The Knox sofa, the Daniel Webster sofa and this sofa were likely made in the same shop as they share nearly identical features, particularly in the turned elements, use of a flame-birch tablet and in the instance of the Knox sofa, the use of bird's-eye veneer and exposed crest.
Because of the costs of imported upholstery, sofas were luxurious objects and one of the more expensive furniture forms in a dwelling. Placed in the formal front rooms or entrance hall, upholstered furniture was often coordinated with curtain hangings to unify the color scheme of a room. As the only full scale upholsterer in Portsmouth in the first few decades of the nineteenth century, Boston trained upholsterer William Sowersby was probably responsible for fitting upholstered furniture. Familiar with the latest upholstery fashions, Sowersby may also have taken council in Thomas Sheraton's Upholsterer's Guide which illustrated a sofa very similar to this example upholstered in striped fabric with three loose cushions, shown here. Unlike the more abundant 'Bolster and Pillow at each End, and Cushions at the Back' suggested by Thomas Chippendale for the rococo designs of the eighteenth century (Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, (London, 1762), p. 4, plates XXIX, XXX), by the more classically inspired Federal era, only the additional cushions at the back were suggested. Sofas of this period were usually decorated with a double row of brass nails, also seen in the plate from Sheraton.
Other examples with veneered crest and arms and tablet reserves include two sofas sold in these Rooms, January 23, 1988, lot 387; Parke Bernet 18, 1940, lot 240; Collection of Hyman Kaufman, part II, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, October 25-26, 1935.