$30,810
Rare Federal Mahogany Carved Sofa, attributed to Duncan Phyfe, New York City, 1792-1815, the three-panel scroll-back crest is composed of carved Neoclassical elements including bowknots, drapery, tassels, cornucopias with sheaves of wheat, above reeded incurvate arms on waterleaf carved supports and curving reeded rails on frontal reeded legs, early surface, (imperfections), ht. 35, lg. 77 1/2, seat dp. 21 1/2, seat ht. 15 in. REPAIR to ome arm and one leg. Note: Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854) was known as the "United States Rage," during the more than 50 years that he made furniture for the social and mercantile elite of New York, Philadelphia and the American South. Phyfe's preeminence in furniture lasted from the 1790s until his retirement in 1847. He remains America's best-known cabinetmaker. His distinguished career as a New York cabinetmaker was highlighted in exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1909 and 1922 and will be again in 2009. The 2009 Cluett collection exhibition's chief curator, Peter M. Kenny, curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, delivered a talk, "Duncan Phyfe: Legendary Cabinetmaker," from which the above information has been quoted and excerpted. See Lockwood pp. 313, 318. George A. Cluett Collection. Literature: This sofa is pictured in Luke Vincent Lockwood's 1913 publication, Colonial Furniture in America , figure CII, p. 318.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2008-02-17
