Duncan Phyfe Games Tables at the Sotheby's and Christie's Important Americana Sales: Better, Better Yet, Better Still, Best, and Superior

There are very few known pieces of furniture that carry a label from the workshop of Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854), one of the leading cabinet makers in America during the early part of the nineteenth century.  Only eight, to be exact.  Almost all of the furniture produced in Phyfe's New York City workshop, from 1794 to 1847,  is unlabeled.  This has been a challenge to collectors, museum curators, and dealers in accurately identifying furniture as having been made by Phyfe's workshop.  Compounding that difficulty is the fact that there were a number of cabinetmakers that were active in New York at the same time that produced furniture of similar quality, sometimes shared the same journeyman carvers, and often copied each other's work.  Furthermore, there is a fairly large group of excellent reproductions (some of them meant to deceive) that were made during the Colonial Revival era.

Given the difficulty in confidently attributing furniture to Duncan Phyfe's workshop, much of the pieces that could possibly have originated there that come up for auction or sale these days are identified as being of the school of Duncan Phyfe, or made by an equivalent workshop.  When a piece has a provenance where there is a documented link between the owner and Duncan Phyfe's workshop—such as a bill of sale—then it can be accurately described as being attributed to Duncan Phyfe.  Only when a piece of furniture actually carries a Duncan Phyfe label can it definitively be described as being made by Duncan Phyfe's workshop.

We collect early-nineteenth-century New York Federal and Classical furniture at Darlington House, and we own half a dozen examples that are considered to be of the school of Duncan Phyfe, or by an equally competent competitor.  I have written about our collection of such furniture in a number of posts, including one here.

At this January's Important Americana sales at Sotheby's and Christie's, there were five examples of games tables that were catalogued as being either from the school of Duncan Phyfe or attributed to his workshop.  Today's post examines those five tables and ranks them based on their quality and condition along the continuum of "Good" to "Masterpiece," as defined by Albert Sack (1912-1999) in his landmark reference book Fine Points of Furniture, first published in 1969 and revised and expanded in 1993.

The first games table in the group auctioned this January qualifies as what I would consider to be a "Better" example of the type.  (Sotheby's and Christie's—given their lofty standards and clientele—do not, in general, auction goods that are at such a lowly end of the quality continuum as to be considered merely "Good.")

Sotheby's lot 410.  Fine Classical carved and figured mahogany
games table, school of Duncan Phyfe.  New York, ca. 1815.
Estimate $5,000-$10,000 USD

The table was in the Sotheby's Important Americana sale, held on January 25th, and is probably the least likely of the group I'm writing about to have been made in the Phyfe workshop.  While the form is one that was known to have been produced by Phyfe, upon close examination the table's carving is the least crisp and well-executed of the group at the sales, which leads me to believe it was made by a nearly equivalent workshop, but not Phyfe's.  I wonder if the games table may be a later, highly accomplished reproduction piece made in the latter part of the nineteenth century, or even possibly a marriage piece where the base didn't start out with the top.  It's hammer price was only $3,500, Dear Reader, and well below its $5,000-$10,000 estimate, indicating that I am not alone in such speculation.  Nonetheless, I would still rank this pleasing table's quality as "Better," using Mr. Sack's quality scale.

Sotheby's lot 369.  Fine and rare classical carved and figured mahogany
five-legged games table, attributed to the school of Duncan Phyfe,
New York, circa 1815.  Estimate $5,000-$10,000 USD

The next table, also in the Sotheby's sale, is more likely to have been made in the Phyfe workshop, in my view, or by his equally competent competitors, the brothers Michael and Richard Allison.  The table's carving is crisp and confident, and its proportions are excellent.  I would rank this as a "Better Yet," or one gradation above the first table.  I would have ranked it even higher than "Better Yet" if it had one or two more flourishes to its form, or more "oomph."  The table sold within its $5,000-$10,000 estimate, at $6,500.

Sotheby's lot 385.  Fine Classical carved and figured mahogany
"trick-leg" games table, school of Duncan Phyfe, New York, circa 1815.
Estimate $6,000-$12,000 USD

The third table, also in the Sotheby's sale, was in the much-desired "trick-leg" form, where an ingenious interior mechanism moves two of the table's legs when the top is opened to form a perfect, and stable, tripod base.  The carving of this games table's fluting was crisp and well executed, and I have no reason to believe it was not made in the Phyfe workshop.  I would rank this as "Better Still," or somewhere between "Better Yet" and "Best."  Condition issues, however, limited the desirability of the table (the top had come off and one of the legs was repaired), and it failed to reach its reserve price and was passed at $4,500.

Sotheby's lot 383.  Very fine and rare Classical carved and figured mahogany
"trick-leg'' games table, school of Duncan Phyfe, New York, circa 1815.
Estimate $8,000-$12,000 USD

The fourth table, also auctioned by Sotheby's, is almost assuredly a product of the Phyfe workshop.  Its carving is more masterful than the previous "Better Still" games table, with more complicated and virtuosic leaf carvings on the legs and the central pedestal (as opposed to mere fluting on the previous example).  The quality of the mahogany was also excellent, with a vivid, almost plum pudding top.  I would rank this games table as the "Best" in its category.  It's got it all.  Condition issues, including what appeared to be later repairs to the underside of the table top, meant that it did not achieve the low end of its $8,000-$12,000 estimate, but it it did sell for $5,500.

Christie's lot 147.  A Federal mahogany treble-elliptical "trick-leg"
card table, attributed to Duncan Phyfe, New York, 1800-1820.
Estimate $12,000-$18,000 USD

The final games tables shown was the only one offered by Christie's and was the best of the lot, by a wide margin.  Christie's cataloged it as attributed to Duncan Phyfe's workshop (as opposed to school of), and it had all the bells and whistles one could possibly want in the form: it was a trick-leg, it sported a treble-elliptical top (instead of the more common double-elliptical form), it had a contrasting satinwood apron (vs. none or one of mahogany), it had a beautifully mottled table top, and its legs and central pedestal were decorated with intricate and superbly executed leaf carvings.  I would rank this as a "Superior" (as defined by Albert Sack) and the highest ranking of the five tables shown here.  It is only one step short of the "Masterpiece" pinnacle of the continuum.  Not surprisingly, the Christie's games table realized the highest price of any of the tables offered during the sales, hammered down at $15,000, or right in the middle of its $12,000-$18,000 estimate.

If I had been feeling particularly flush during the sales, Dear Reader, I might have considered bidding on the Christie's table.  I wasn't, however, so I consoled myself with buying one of the other, lesser tables offered, for our Snuggery at Darlington House.  I'll divulge which one it is in my next post.

Tell me, which one of these tables do you like the best?  And which one would you buy if price was not a consideration?

Photographs courtesy of Sotheby's and Christie's.

Antiques Week At Last! The 2014 Winter Antiques Show Opening Party

This past Thursday Boy and I attended the opening party for the Winter Antiques Show ("WAS"), held at New York's Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

A spectacular arrangement of roses
at the entry to the Winter Antiques Show

The WAS opening party is one of the highlights of the New York social season and attracts a large crowd of sleek and moneyed New Yorkers.  This year marked the show's sixtieth anniversary.  It's one of the longest running and most prestigious antiques show in the country, Dear Reader.

Fortunately a full bar was set up right at the entry
so Reggie didn't have to wait for a cocktail!

The WAS opening party is a lot of fun.  One can spend the entire evening boozing and schmoozing, as there are food and drink stations at every turn, and one runs into all sorts of people one knows—or would like to know better.

The crowd entering the show

Every year the WAS hosts a loan exhibition from a noteworthy cultural institution.  This year's show features one from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, also known as "the PEM."  The PEM's exhibition was designed by Mr. Jeff Daly, the former Chief of Design at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who now has his own museum and design consulting company.  I was very pleased to meet and speak with Mr. Daly and his partner at the party, both of whom I learned are sometime readers of this blog!

The Peabody Essex Museum loan exhibition at the WAS

The PEM has a number of masterpieces from its collections on display.

The PEM's Derby Dressing Table, ca. 1800-1810

Prominently (and rightly) featured is this dressing table by the cabinet makers John and Thomas Seymour of Boston, made for Mrs. Elizabeth Derby West, the daughter of the immensely rich Mr. Elias Haskell Derby.  Boy and I attended the landmark Seymour exhibition that the PEM mounted ten years ago.  I shall never forget it.  It was spectacular.

The PEM's portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne, ca. 1840
Charles Osgood, artist

Also displayed is this portrait of a young and handsome Nathaniel Hawthorne in the PEM's collection.  I have a postcard of this portrait, bought at the PEM when we toured the Seymour exhibit, that I have slipped into the frame of a mirror hanging above my chest of drawers at Darlington.

Mr. David Patrick Columbia

One of the first people I ran into at the show was Mr. David Patrick Columbia, of New York Social Diary fame.  I am a devoted reader of and sometime contributor to NYSD, and I owe Mr. Columbia a story that I've been working on for him some time now.  We had a pleasant conversation, and the picture he took of us appeared in his next morning's post.  Thank you, sir!

Pork, vegetable, chicken or beef?

The food offered at the Winter Antiques Show this year was delicious and varied.  The dumpling station shown in the preceding photograph was very popular.

I stopped in my tracks when I turned around and noticed this exotic-looking mid-nineteenth-century marble bust of an American Indian.

And I was also quite taken by this full-length statue of a young Indian by the same sculptor, in the same booth.

The Peter Pap Oriental Rugs booth

My next stop was to say hello to Mr. Peter Pap, the San Francisco-based dealer of oriental rugs.  Mr. Pap's mother and mine were great pals when we were both lads, and we share a mutual friend in common today in Mr. Guy "Pickles" Gurquin, the noted San Francisco decorator.

Son and Father Pap

Mr. Pap was joined at the party by his son, Master Jared Pap, whom I enjoyed meeting.  I'm afraid the younger Pap may have thought me one of those "I knew your grandmother . . ." old fogey blowhards, but he seemed pretty game about it.

The Old Print Shop booth

We next peeked into the booth of the Old Print Shop, where we admired an early depiction of Alexander Hamilton . . .

. . . and then made a beeline to the booth of Stephen and Carol Huber, America's preeminent dealers in antique schoolgirl needleworks.

The Stephen & Carol Huber booth

I have a weakness for mourning pictures, Dear Reader.  Actually I need to clarify that: I have a weakness for almost anything made with a mourning theme in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in America or England.  I especially liked the mourning needlework picture on display in the Huber's booth, shown in the following photograph:

Who should I then run into next but Mr. Michael Henry Adams, man about town and bon vivant!

Mr. Michael Henry Adams

Mr. Adams has kindly invited me to spend a day with him taking in the noteworthy historical sites in Harlem, and I look forward to doing so soon.  Taking my leave of him, I briefly paused to admire this pulchritudinous ancient statue . . .

Hello gorgeous!

. . . on my way to the back bar to replenish my flute of champagne.  A number of my Dear Readers may remember another, also pulchritudinous ancient statue, that I featured in my last year's post on the WAS opening party, shot from the—ahem—rear.  It was also from the same dealer, Safani Gallery.

I needed a refreshment of champagne in order to bear the excitement of the prospect of next visiting the booth of Hirschl & Adler, where I found Boy shamelessly flirting with the lovely and fun Ms. Liz Feld.

Mr. Boy Fenwick and Ms. Liz Feld

And why not?  Ms. Feld is divine, and we like her and her family immensely.  The Felds have the most mouthwatering goods on display in the Hirschl & Adler booth at the WAS, including this spectacular desk attributed to Duncan Phyfe, shown in the following photograph.

The Hirschl & Adler Duncan Phyfe desk
with a George Washington gilt bronze clock

They also had—not one, but two—George Washington clocks on display.  It almost made me faint!

Another gilt bronze George Washington clock!

I immediately needed another glass of champagne in order to collect myself.  Fortunately there was a bar set up close at hand for just such an emergency.

Boy at the Bar

Our next stop was the booth of Jeffrey Tillou Antiques, of Litchfield, Connecticut.  We have been customers of Mr. Tillou, both at the WAS and his Litchfield shop, ever since we bought Darlington.

I was quite taken by this large, early-nineteenth-century still life painting in the Tillou booth.

"Let me tell you about where I found this painting . . . "

Boy briefly considered this small landscape.

I suspect that butter wouldn't melt in his mouth

And we both liked this Ammi Phillips portrait in the Tillou booth of a rather haughty young gentleman.  I thought it one of the better portraits by the artist that I've seen in recent years.  It was already—not surprisingly—sold.

Leaving the Tillou booth we stopped and chatted with Ms. Mary Dohne, seen on the right of the preceding photograph.  Ms. Dohne works at Liz O'Brien, a dealer in exquisite, sophisticated, bench-made mid-century furniture of the Maison Jansen/Samuel Marx/Francis Elkins school(s).  Ms. Dohne is really rather jolly.  I loved the outfit she was wearing at the party.

Ms. Liz O'Brien

We then made our way to the Liz O'Brien booth, where we stopped and chatted with the charming and gracious Ms. O'Brien.  I've admired Ms. O'Brien's eye for many years, starting from when she first had a shop in SoHo.  Ms. O'Brien is shown in the preceding photograph standing next to a commode made by Maison Jansen for the Duchess of Windsor.  It was exquisite.  I am tickled pink that Ms. O'Brien and I are now Facebook friends.

I'll have one of everything, please!

Taking a break from the visual overload, I fortified myself with several helpings of tasty Peking Duck rolls at the nearby food station.

Mr. Will Motley with the Dyckman punch bowl

I next stopped into the booth of Cohen and Cohen of Reigate, England, to admire their magnificent offerings of (positively) ducal Chinese export porcelain.  Mr. Will Motley was kind enough to show me the heart-stopping punch bowl Cohen and Cohen had on display that was (thought to be) commissioned by States Morris Dyckman (1755-1806), ca. 1805, for his house, Boscobel, in the Hudson River Valley.

Unlike the rather foul-humored dealer at the Ceramics Fair who wouldn't give Reggie the time of day, Mr. Motley was more than pleased to let me examine a truly superb Chinese export punch bowl, ca. 1800, decorated with Masonic emblems.  It was large enough to bathe an infant!

The Cove Landing booth

Our next stop was to visit the extremely popular Cove Landing booth.  I did a post about attending an exhibition sale at Cove Landing this past fall.  We've become rather addicted to Cove Landings' exquisite offerings, Dear Reader.

Across the aisle from Cove Landing, I was entranced by this impressive suite of watercolors of the stages of operations of a silk factory in China, from the early nineteenth century.

The Moderne Gallery booth

Not everything at the WAS dates from pre-1900.  The dealer's booth shown in the preceding photograph was positively brimming with the wildly collectible, wildly expensive mid-century furniture made by the Japanese-American cabinetmaker and architect George Nakashima (1905-1990).

Betty Grable, eat your heart out!

Not all the "nudies" at the WAS were from the Ancient era, Dear Reader.  I was quite taken by this early-nineteenth-century pinup in all her unclothed glory.

Which inspired Reggie with yet more of an appetite for the party's tasty finger food.

The Carlton Hobbs booth

I always make sure to stop at the Carlton Hobbs booth at the WAS.  He has magnificent things to ogle, including this show's truly fantastical pair of enormous Adam-style mirrors (although I suspect the English Mr. Hobbs prefers to call them "looking glasses").

"What are you looking at?"

Yet more food was to be had.

I believe the toothy fellow in the yellow tie was on a reality show

And yet another photograph of another beautiful booth at the show.

"Be it ever so humble . . . "

I thought the grisaille wallpaper at Kentshire Galleries, seen in the preceding photograph, was beyond sublime.

Another photograph snapped of yet more benefitters milling about the drinks station at the center of the Armory.

And another!

Is that Miss Miller Gaffney I see in the Maison Gerard booth?

The Maison Gerard booth was very chic, I thought.

The Carswell Rush Berlin booth

And the Carswell Rush Berlin booth of American Classical furniture was definitely worth a gander!

I wanted everything!

I particularly liked the bookcase along the wall.  I wish I had a place for it at Darlington House.

Elle Shushan's booth

Our final stop at the show was the always-marvelous booth of Elle Shushan, the best American dealer in fine antique miniature portraits.

Every year she and her friend, the designer Ralph Harvard, come up with a different inspiration for her booth's design.  I think this year it may have been the Egyptian-revival architecture of Henry Austin (1804-1891), but I could be mistaken.

With dinner plans beckoning us at the nearby L'Absinthe Brasserie, and the delightful company of Ms. Maureen Footer and Ms. Emily Evans Eerdmans to look forward to, Boy and I then retrieved our coats and made our way out the main door of the Armory and into the chilly January night.  And just like that, we were gone!

Next: Reggie goes shopping for Duncan Phyfe games tables at Sotheby's and Christie's

All photographs by Reggie Darling