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Untouched Federal Bow-front Chest of Drawers
Massachusetts, circa 1790-1800
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Untouched Federal Bow-front Chest of Drawers
Massachusetts, circa 1790-1800
Mahogany, mahogany veneer, hardwood stringing, white pine, original oval brasses with traces of gilt, original bone inlaid escutcheons, original finish, height 32 inches, width 38 inches, depth 15 ½ inches.
This chest possesses a unique character and personality owing to its fine proportions in combination with a beautifully worn original surface. It is a prized example and a personal favorite that we first handled nearly fifty years ago.
 

The Packet Ship Telegraph
Probably Massachusetts, circa 1816–1820
Oil on cardboard mounted on canvas, 23 ¾ x 33 ¾ inches, in period gilt frame
Center flag inscribed: “Telegraph”
The packet Telegraph was constructed by Calvin Turner (circa 1776–1849) in Medford, Massachusetts in 1816. Turner established his shipbuilding firm in Medford in 1804, which became a significant center of shipbuilding in the early nineteenth century, with ten active shipyards. After the War of 1812 and advancements in cargo vessel design, Medford played a vital role in the development of American merchant ships. The Telegraph was a 391-ton merchant vessel owned by Boston merchants William and Nathan Appleton, who were cousins. Nathan Appleton (1779–1861), who contributed to the establishment of the textile mill community in Lowell, Massachusetts, served as a member of the Massachusetts high court, and was a member of Congress. His former residence is located at 39 Beacon Street on Beacon Hill. William Appleton (1786–1862) was a merchant and banker who owned at least thirty-eight ships during his career. He also served as a member of Congress. The Appletons were part of a group of Boston businessmen who led the commercial banking industry and managed numerous shipping companies and markets between Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Naming their ship after the telegraph, a new communication device, was appropriate given its significance to their merchant fleets’ operations.
Provenance:
George E. Schoellkopf Gallery, New York, 1974; Collection of Barry Cohen (1934–1990), New York; David A. Schorsch and America Hurrah, New York, 1990; Collection of Jill Iscol (1947–2022), Pound Ridge, New York, and Chilmark, Massachusetts.
Exhibited:
“Selected Examples of American Folk Painting, Sculpture and Pottery,” George E. Schoellkopf Gallery, New York, January 19–February 2, 1974.
“The Barry Cohen Collection, Part Three,” David A. Schorsch at The Fall Antiques Show, New York, October 17–21, 1990.
Published:
Advertisement for George E. Schoellkopf, The Magazine Antiques, January 1974, p. 44.
George E. Schoellkopf Gallery, Selected Examples of American Folk Painting, Sculpture and Pottery (New York, 1974), cover, as “The Packet Telegraph.”
Karen Parker Gray and Jacqueline Gonnet, “The Joy of Collecting American Folk Art: Barry Cohen,” House & Garden, June 1982, p. 97.
David A. Schorsch, The Barry Cohen Collection (New York: American Hurrah with David A. Schorsch, Inc., 1990), pp. 52–53.
Frank Miele, “Art in a Box, The Collection of Barry Cohen,” The Clarion, Fall 1990, p. 53.
 
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The Packet Ship Telegraph
Probably Massachusetts, circa 1816–1820
Oil on cardboard mounted on canvas, 23 ¾ x 33 ¾ inches, in period gilt frame
Center flag inscribed: “Telegraph”
The packet Telegraph was constructed by Calvin Turner (circa 1776–1849) in Medford, Massachusetts in 1816. Turner established his shipbuilding firm in Medford in 1804, which became a significant center of shipbuilding in the early nineteenth century, with ten active shipyards. After the War of 1812 and advancements in cargo vessel design, Medford played a vital role in the development of American merchant ships. The Telegraph was a 391-ton merchant vessel owned by Boston merchants William and Nathan Appleton, who were cousins. Nathan Appleton (1779–1861), who contributed to the establishment of the textile mill community in Lowell, Massachusetts, served as a member of the Massachusetts high court, and was a member of Congress. His former residence is located at 39 Beacon Street on Beacon Hill. William Appleton (1786–1862) was a merchant and banker who owned at least thirty-eight ships during his career. He also served as a member of Congress. The Appletons were part of a group of Boston businessmen who led the commercial banking industry and managed numerous shipping companies and markets between Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Naming their ship after the telegraph, a new communication device, was appropriate given its significance to their merchant fleets’ operations.
Provenance:
George E. Schoellkopf Gallery, New York, 1974; Collection of Barry Cohen (1934–1990), New York; David A. Schorsch and America Hurrah, New York, 1990; Collection of Jill Iscol (1947–2022), Pound Ridge, New York, and Chilmark, Massachusetts.
Exhibited:
“Selected Examples of American Folk Painting, Sculpture and Pottery,” George E. Schoellkopf Gallery, New York, January 19–February 2, 1974.
“The Barry Cohen Collection, Part Three,” David A. Schorsch at The Fall Antiques Show, New York, October 17–21, 1990.
Published:
Advertisement for George E. Schoellkopf, The Magazine Antiques, January 1974, p. 44.
George E. Schoellkopf Gallery, Selected Examples of American Folk Painting, Sculpture and Pottery (New York, 1974), cover, as “The Packet Telegraph.”
Karen Parker Gray and Jacqueline Gonnet, “The Joy of Collecting American Folk Art: Barry Cohen,” House & Garden, June 1982, p. 97.
David A. Schorsch, The Barry Cohen Collection (New York: American Hurrah with David A. Schorsch, Inc., 1990), pp. 52–53.
Frank Miele, “Art in a Box, The Collection of Barry Cohen,” The Clarion, Fall 1990, p. 53.
 
 

ZEDEKIAH BELKNAP (1781-1858(
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ZEDEKIAH BELKNAP (1781-1858(
 

Native American Paint-Decorated “Box” Basket
Possibly Connecticut or Massachusetts, circa 1830
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Native American Paint-Decorated “Box” Basket
Possibly Connecticut or Massachusetts, circa 1830
Brown ash splint, original painted decoration, 11 ¾ x 15 ¾ x 15 inches.
 

PHILIP LORD (1814-1880)
Standing gentleman in profile holding a top hat
Lowell, Massachusetts, dated 1843
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PHILIP LORD (1814-1880)
Standing gentleman in profile holding a top hat
Lowell, Massachusetts, dated 1843
Watercolor on paper, 10 ¼ x 6 1/8, in original exceptional inlaid cherry frame. Signed on verso “By P. Lord / 14 Central St. / Lowell,  Mass. / July 17, 1843,”
Back of frame with two paper jelly labels inscribed by Nina Fletcher Little (1903-1993; one transcribing the artist’s inscription and signature on verso which notes it was “Given to Harold by his Uncle Henry, Sept. 21^st, 1901. A picture of Harold’s grandfather” the other “Owned by Nina F. Little.”
Provenance:
A. Carpenter, 1970; Collection of Bertram and Nina Fletcher Little, Brookline, MA; “The Bertram K. Little and Nina Fletcher Little Collection,” Sotheby’s, New York, January 29, 1994, lot 117; New England private collection.
Published:
Nina Fletcher Little, Country Arts in Early American Homes (New York, 1975), p. 178, pl. 5.
 

POSSIBLY CHARLES P. DOWLER (1841-1931)
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POSSIBLY CHARLES P. DOWLER (1841-1931)
 

Queen Anne Painted Mirror with Pierced Crest
Connecticut, possibly Stratford area, circa 1740
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Queen Anne Painted Mirror with Pierced Crest
Connecticut, possibly Stratford area, circa 1740
Poplar, old or original brown painted surface, old, replaced mirror glass, 17 ¾ x 10 1/8 inches.
An exceptional and possibly unique American-made mirror distinguished by its highly stylized Queen Anne scrolled crest with bold heart-and-keyhole pierced decoration and molded frame. In a wonderful state of preservation with the exception of an old, replaced glass.
Provenance:
Olde Hope Antiques, New York; Collection of Mr. and Mrs. George Dittmar, Colts Neck, NJ.
 
 

Tavern and Inn Sign of Zaccheus Lambert
Falmouth, Maine, 1810
White pine, iron, original painted decoration.
Height 54 ½ inches, width 39 inches, depth 2 inches 
Inscribed: “Entertainment” / Z. LAMBERT / 1810”
The original owner of this sign was Zaccheus Lambert, Jr, born in 1769 in Scituate, Massachusetts, the son of Zaccheus Lambert, Sr and Lydia Gray, who married February 17, 1767, in Scituate. Zaccheus Lambert, Jr was first married to Ziporah Curtis and this union produced two sons, Samuel C. Lambert in 1794 and John L. Lambert in 1798. The family moved from Scituate, Massachusetts to Cumberland County, Maine about 1798. After the death of his first wife, Lambert was remarried to Mary Hale in May of 1800 in Westbrook, Maine. By 1810 Zaccheus Lambert, Jr. was engaged in the hospitality business, opening a Tavern and Inn at the top of Lambert’s Hill in Falmouth, Maine, for which this sign was commissioned.  Eventually Lambert left the Tavern and Inn business in favor of financing real estate transactions. He sold the tavern to his Falmouth neighbor, Isaac Winslow, who operated it as “Winslow’s Tavern” until the property was foreclosed and sold at public auction in 1841 to satisfy a mortgage still held by Zaccheus Lambert in the amount of $228.28. During the 1830s and 1840s Zaccheus Lambert was engaged in numerous real estate transactions in Maine acting as mortgage holder and appears to have amassed a considerable fortune. At the time of his death in 1849 Lambert owned the Hussey farm in Falmouth, a “good two-story dwelling house, out houses, and two barns. It produced 50 tons of hay the last year and will pasture from 30 to 40 head of cattle. A large proportion of the land is good interval, and there is considerable quantity of good white oak ship timber on the Farm.” 
With its handsome architecture of a broken arched pediment centered by a scalloped urn shaped cartouche flanked by turned finials over and pilasters and original painted decoration beautifully weathered condition, this tavern sign is a great rarity. It is particularly notable for the charming rendering of a standing horse, the crisply lettered inscription and early date of 1810.
Signs of related form are illustrated and discussed in Susan P. Schoelwer, Ed., Lions & Eagles & Bulls, Early American Tavern & Inn Signs From the Collection of the Connecticut Historical Society (Hartford, 2000). 
 Provenance:
By family descent; William Schwind, Jr., Yarmouth, ME; Collection of David C. Morse, Portland, ME; “The Americana Collection of David C, Morse,” F. O. Bailey, Portland, Maine, July 10, 1986, lot 16; Private collection: David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, Woodbury, CT, 2017; Private collection; David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, Woodbury, CT.
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Tavern and Inn Sign of Zaccheus Lambert
Falmouth, Maine, 1810
White pine, iron, original painted decoration.
Height 54 ½ inches, width 39 inches, depth 2 inches 
Inscribed: “Entertainment” / Z. LAMBERT / 1810”
The original owner of this sign was Zaccheus Lambert, Jr, born in 1769 in Scituate, Massachusetts, the son of Zaccheus Lambert, Sr and Lydia Gray, who married February 17, 1767, in Scituate. Zaccheus Lambert, Jr was first married to Ziporah Curtis and this union produced two sons, Samuel C. Lambert in 1794 and John L. Lambert in 1798. The family moved from Scituate, Massachusetts to Cumberland County, Maine about 1798. After the death of his first wife, Lambert was remarried to Mary Hale in May of 1800 in Westbrook, Maine. By 1810 Zaccheus Lambert, Jr. was engaged in the hospitality business, opening a Tavern and Inn at the top of Lambert’s Hill in Falmouth, Maine, for which this sign was commissioned.  Eventually Lambert left the Tavern and Inn business in favor of financing real estate transactions. He sold the tavern to his Falmouth neighbor, Isaac Winslow, who operated it as “Winslow’s Tavern” until the property was foreclosed and sold at public auction in 1841 to satisfy a mortgage still held by Zaccheus Lambert in the amount of $228.28. During the 1830s and 1840s Zaccheus Lambert was engaged in numerous real estate transactions in Maine acting as mortgage holder and appears to have amassed a considerable fortune. At the time of his death in 1849 Lambert owned the Hussey farm in Falmouth, a “good two-story dwelling house, out houses, and two barns. It produced 50 tons of hay the last year and will pasture from 30 to 40 head of cattle. A large proportion of the land is good interval, and there is considerable quantity of good white oak ship timber on the Farm.” 
With its handsome architecture of a broken arched pediment centered by a scalloped urn shaped cartouche flanked by turned finials over and pilasters and original painted decoration beautifully weathered condition, this tavern sign is a great rarity. It is particularly notable for the charming rendering of a standing horse, the crisply lettered inscription and early date of 1810.
Signs of related form are illustrated and discussed in Susan P. Schoelwer, Ed., Lions & Eagles & Bulls, Early American Tavern & Inn Signs From the Collection of the Connecticut Historical Society (Hartford, 2000). 
 Provenance:
By family descent; William Schwind, Jr., Yarmouth, ME; Collection of David C. Morse, Portland, ME; “The Americana Collection of David C, Morse,” F. O. Bailey, Portland, Maine, July 10, 1986, lot 16; Private collection: David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, Woodbury, CT, 2017; Private collection; David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, Woodbury, CT.
 

LINCOLN
Fire Bucket inscribed to Bela Whiton
Boston, Massachusetts, dated 1829
Leather, iron, rope, original paint, bucket: 13, diameter 8 inches
Shaking hand, scroll and banner decoration, inscribed “1829,” “No. 1,” “Mutual Fire Society,” “Bela Whitton,” bucket: height 13 inches, diameter 8 inches. With expected wear and craquelure, and minor restoration, original handle re-attached, old varnish.
Aside from the well documented work of John Fenno of Boston, few other makers of fire buckets have been identified, making this a rare example.
Provenance:
A notable private collection.
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LINCOLN
Fire Bucket inscribed to Bela Whiton
Boston, Massachusetts, dated 1829
Leather, iron, rope, original paint, bucket: 13, diameter 8 inches
Shaking hand, scroll and banner decoration, inscribed “1829,” “No. 1,” “Mutual Fire Society,” “Bela Whitton,” bucket: height 13 inches, diameter 8 inches. With expected wear and craquelure, and minor restoration, original handle re-attached, old varnish.
Aside from the well documented work of John Fenno of Boston, few other makers of fire buckets have been identified, making this a rare example.
Provenance:
A notable private collection.
 

Sack-Back Windsor Armchair
Massachusetts, probably Salem, circa 1780–1800

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Sack-Back Windsor Armchair
Massachusetts, probably Salem, circa 1780–1800

 

JOHN BREWSTER, JR. (1766-1854)
Rare Miniature Portrait of a Young Man
Probably coastal Massachusetts, 1807–1809
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JOHN BREWSTER, JR. (1766-1854)
Rare Miniature Portrait of a Young Man
Probably coastal Massachusetts, 1807–1809
 



CHARLES CHASE (1731-1813)
High Back Windsor Armchair
Nantucket, Massachusetts, circa 1790
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CHARLES CHASE (1731-1813)
High Back Windsor Armchair
Nantucket, Massachusetts, circa 1790
 

Child’s Painted Bow-back Windsor Side Chair
Connecticut or New York, circa 1795

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Child’s Painted Bow-back Windsor Side Chair
Connecticut or New York, circa 1795

 


EDWARD BEYER (1810-1865)
The Farm of William H. Snidow
Giles County, Virginia, 1855
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EDWARD BEYER (1810-1865)
The Farm of William H. Snidow
Giles County, Virginia, 1855
Oil on canvas, 20 x 29 ½ inches, in period walnut frame.
Signed lower right in red paint: “Ed. Beyer / 1855”
Inscribed on verso: “View of Wm. H. Snidow’s Farm Giles CO, Va / Painted from Nature by Ed. Beyer / Presented to Wm. H. Snidow by his friends / A. Hopp / Wm Walton & / Ed. Beyer / Salem Va Sept 1855.”
Edward Beyer was the premier painter of panoramic landscapes in antebellum Virginia and only a small number of his original oil paintings survive. Born in the Rhineland of western Germany, Beyer was a graduate of the Düsseldorf Academy of Art and traveled to the United States in 1848 with his wife, first living in Newark, New Jersey, and later Philadelphia and Cincinnati. He visited Virginia from 1854 to 1857, traveling, sketching, and painting scenes of interest that became his Album of Virginia: Or Illustration of the Old Dominion, published in 1858. Beyer died in Munich in 1865.
Located along the New River and Blue Ridge Mountains, the farm of William H. Snidow (1796–1863) is beautifully depicted in this work. Snidow acquired the property in 1836, after the death of his father, Colonel Christian Snidow (1760–1836). Among other responsibilities, William oversaw the planning of a new roadway to Roanoke Red Sulfur Springs, a popular spa and tourist destination, a short distance from his farm, on land previously owned by his uncle. This farmscape was a presentation to Snidow from the artist and the owners of the spa. A color lithograph of Roanoke Red Sulfur Springs was later included in Beyer’s Album of Virginia.
Works by Edward Beyer are represented in notable private collections and the National Gallery of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia Historical Society, and Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. For more on this artist, see Historical Society of Western Virginia, Edward Beyer’s Travels Through America: An Artists View (Roanoke, 2011).
Provenance:
William H. Snidow, Salem, VA; Private collection; “Important Americana: Furniture and Folk Art,” Sotheby’s, New York, January 21, 2021, lot 82; David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, Woodbury, CT.
Published:
David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, By The People, For The People: Fine American Folk Art, 1780-1940 (Woodbury, CT, 2023), no. 21.
 

JACOB MAENTEL (1778-1863)
Catherine Wilt
York, Pennsylvania, circa 1830–1832
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JACOB MAENTEL (1778-1863)
Catherine Wilt
York, Pennsylvania, circa 1830–1832
Watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper, 14 x 8 inches, mounted on antique printed cotton scarf, 23 ½ x 14 ½ inches, in period painted frame.
This portrait of Catherine Wilt (1817–1906) is one of four that descended in her family. It bears many of the hallmarks associated with Jacob Mantel’s outdoor scenes: dry earth under the feet of the subject, rolling green hills studded with trees and a house in the background. Details of costume and hair point to a date of about 1830–1832, supporting family tradition that the portrait was painted on the occasion of Wilt’s confirmation, which occurred during that time frame. The paisley-bordered cotton upon which the watercolor is mounted is a remnant from the actual shawl depicted in the portrait. Wilt married William Adams (1825–1858) in 1846. Her father, Peter owned and operated a public inn in York, Pennsylvania, on the south side of Market Street, east of Queen Street. The establishment was well known for the entertainment offered by traveling circuses and theater companies in its yards and a large interior room. A series of drawings by Lewis Miller details the tavern and some of its entertainments, as well as an accident that occurred while the building was being erected. Identified by Miller as ‘Peter Wilts House,’ this may be the same home, at 45 South Queen Street, that was deeded to Catherine Wilt in 1850.” Stacy C. Hollander, ed., American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum (New York, 2001), p. 381.
Provenance:
By family descent; Frederick W. Shaffer, Bethayres, PA; “The American Heritage Auction of Americana,” Sotheby’s, New York, January 27–30, 1982, lot 833; Marjorie H. Schorsch, Greenwich, CT, 1983; Collection of Ralph O. Esmerian, New York; “Visual Grace: Important American Folk Art From the Collection of Ralph O. Esmerian,” Sotheby’s, New York, January 25, 2014, lot 582; David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, Woodbury, CT, 2014; Private collection.
Exhibited:
“American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, December 11, 2001–June 2, 2002. “Jubilation/Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, January 17–September 12, 2012.
Published:
Stacy C. Hollander, ed., American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum (New York, 2001), pp. 36, 381, no. 11.