G alleries INC Levy G ALLERY C ATALOG 2026
December, 2025
Dear Friends:
Please enjoy our 2026 Gallery Catalog. It is the culmination of year of work, trying to find great objects at all price levels. I hope you find it both entertaining and useful, especially in this Semiquincentennial year. 2025 was filled with great discoveries of both new and old “friends.” Nearly everything in the catalog is available as of publication, although I felt I had to show the pair of eagle base card tables from Duncan Phyfe. They are already in a great collection, but now, at least virtually, they are available for all to see. I look forward to seeing you in the New Year at one of the three shows I do. These are the upcoming Winter Show in New York, the inaugural Pennsylvania Show in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and The Delaware Antiques Show in Wilmington. Of course you are always invited to visit here in New York or on the website, www.levygalleries.com. As always, I welcome your questions or comments. Finally, I must thank the three people whose hard work made this catalog possible. First, Anna Kelly was an invaluable assistant in getting the research together for each entry. Bill Hansen’s masterful design is visible throughout and none of it would work without the artistry of photographer Richard Goodbody. They all have my gratitude.
RARE AND FINE WILLIAM AND MARY CHERRY BUTTERFLY TABLE Massachusetts Circa 1720 Primary Wood: Cherry Secondary Woods: Maple, White Pine Height: 27 inches Length: 14 inches; two 11-inch drop leaves Width: 36 inches
Enjoy the catalog and see you in 2026.
Frank Levy
Provenance: John and Mary Linsley, North Branford, Connecticut A very rare form that survives in excellent condition. For a similar table please see American Furniture from Israel Sack Collection, Volume VI, page 1573, plate P4659.
www.levygalleries.com
frank@levygalleries.com
917-841-3824
Photos by Richard Goodbody Layout and design by The Hansen Company Advertising
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THE REYNELL-COATES FAMILY HIGH CHEST OF DRAWERS Philadelphia Circa 1750
Attributed to George Claypoole, Sr. (1706–1793), carving attributed to Samuel Harding (d. 1758) and/or Brian Wilkinson (1748-1794) Primary Wood: Walnut, Secondary Woods: Tulip Poplar, Yellow Pine Height: 90 1 / 4 inches, Width: 43 1 / 4 inches, Depth: 24 1 / 2 inches Provenance: John Reynell (1708-1784); Samuel Coates (nephew by marriage, 1748–1830); Joseph Saunders Coates (1783-1835); Dr. Benjamin Hornor Coates (1797-1881); George Morrison Coates (1817-1893); M. Thomas & Sons, Auctioneers at 139-141(1882) to Dr. Coates’ nephew, Joseph Hartshorne Coates (1812-1889); to his son, Joseph Saunders Coates (1859-1951); to his daughter JanetWisner Coates (1896-1968). A surviving letter kept by a Coates family descendant associates this high chest to the Reynell family set of chairs that are now attributed to the cabinetmaker James James (1730-1807). Reference: For other high chests from this group please see Andrew Brunk, “The Claypoole Family Joiners of Philadelphia: Their Legacy and the Context of Their Work” in American Furniture 2002 and J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture in the Kaufman Collection entry 29, pgs. 86-87. Finally, a similar high chest is in The Winterthur Museum collection and appears in Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods , entry 199.
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THE GIBBS FAMILY CHEST ON CHEST Newport Circa 1770 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: Yellow Poplar; Chestnut; Pine Height: 84 inches, Width: 41 1 / 2 inches, Depth: 21 1 / 2 inches Provenance: George Gibbs II, Newport, Rhode Island; by descent in his family, before 1990. Israel Sack, Inc., New York, 1990; Private Collection, Missouri; Private Collection, Virginia. Reference: American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume 10 , page 2605, no. P6309.
THREE SHELL CHEST OF DRAWERS Attributed to Job Townsend, Jr. (1726–1778) Newport Circa 1765 Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Woods: White Pine, Chestnut, and Tulip Poplar. Height: 32 inches, Width: 35 3 / 4 inches, Depth: 20 1 / 2 inches
Provenance: Mrs. Franklin Bartlett (nee’ Bertha King Post), New York, before 1921; consigned by her estate to American Art Galleries, New York, January 13–15, 1921, lot 607; sold to Alfred Barmore Maclay (1871–1944), New York; by descent in his family, until 1999. Reference: American Art Association, New York, Catalogue of the Collection of Early American, English, and French Furniture Formed by the Late Mrs. Franklin Bartlett , sale cat. (January 13–15, 1921), lot 607, ill.Martha H. Willoughby, "The Accounts of Job Townsend, Jr.," American Furniture (1999) : 110–113, fig. 1–6.
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PAIR OF QUEEN ANNE BRASS ANDIRONS Probably Rhode Island Circa 1750 Height: 21 inches Width: 11 inches Depth: 19 inches Reference: For a nearly identical pair of andirons, also with the matching logstop, please see Herbert Schiffer, The Brass Book , page 71, figure A.
PAIR OF CHIPPENDALE BRASS ANDIRONS Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Circa 1765
Height: 24 inches. Width: 14 inches
Depth: 24 inches Provenance: Ginsburg & Levy, Inc., New York; E. Ross and Bessie Millhiser, Virginia.
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EARLY QUEEN ANNE DRESSING TABLE Boston Circa 1745 Primary Wood: Walnut, Walnut Veneer, Maple, Secondary Woods: Maple, White Pine Height: 30 3 / 4 inches Width: 35 7 / 8 inches Depth: 22 3 / 4 inches
Reference: Similar painted or japanned shells appear on a group of the finest Boston mid-18th century furniture. Please see Alan T. Miller, "Roman Gusto in New England; An 18th century Boston Furniture Designer and his Shop" in American Furniture, 1993 , figures 10, 11, 22, 23, 26 and 41. For a very similarly designed high chest that may be the mate to this dressing table, see Sotheby's, I mportant Americana Furniture and Folk Art, January 18, 1998 lot 1721.
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DELFT CHARGER DEPICTING KING WILLIAM London Circa 1690 13 1 / 2 inch Diameter
Reference: For a very similar designed charger please see Michael Archer, Delftware, The Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum , figure A.6. Other chargers having the same decoration are in the Collection of The Milwaukee Art Museum and The Bayou Bend Collection.
THE PIERPONT FAMILY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY CHEST Cambridge or Boston Circa 1680 Primary Wood: Oak Secondary Woods: Oak, White Pine Height: 25 inches, Width: 46 inches, Depth: 17 1 / 2 inches
DELFT POLYCHROME TULIP CHARGER London Circa 1700 13 inch Diameter
Provenance: An old handwritten note inside the lid records that "This chest was brought from England by the Pierpont family who came to America in 1640. It was in the family of Ebenezer Pierpont, who was the son of Samuel Pierpont, eldest son of Joseph Pierpont, the first of the name that settled in North Haven. Said Joseph was one of the sons of Reverend James Pierpont of New Haven. This chest was given by Ebenezer Pierpont to Rufus Pierpont, son of his cousin Daniel Pierpont in 1854, with a request that it be kept in the Pierpont family..." Reference: For a discussion of early Boston cabinetmaking and in particular the Harvard Joiner shop please see Robert F. Trent and Michael Podmaniczky,“An Early Cupboard Fragment from the Harvard College Joinery Tradition” in American Furniture, 2002 .
Reference: For similar examples please see Michael Archer, Catalogue of Delftware in the Fitzwilliam Museum , pages 42-44.
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DIMINUTIVE TEA TABLE WITH CANDLE SLIDES Boston Circa 1755 Carving attributed to John Welch (b. 1711) Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Woods: Maple, White Pine Height: 26 1 / 2 inches, Width: 28 inches, Depth: 18 inches Provenance: Lord Constantine, Crosshall Manor, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. Reference: A table at Winterthur shares the same design and knee carving as this example, please see Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods , entry 367. Another table from the same shop that descended in the Fulton and Bradlee families of Boston appears in Paul Revere's Boston , 1735-1818 , entry 122, page 96; and in Wendy Cooper's In Praise of America - American Decorative Arts, 1650 -1830 , page 193, illustration number 216.
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A MATCHED SUITE OF HIGH CHEST AND DRESSING TABLE Connecticut, possibly Wethersfield Circa 1750 Primary Wood: Cherry, Secondary Wood: White Pine
High Chest: Height: 72 1 /
2 inches
Width: 38 1 /
2 inches
Depth: 19 inches Dressing Table Height: 34 3 / Width: 35 inches Depth: 20 1 /
8 inches
2 inches
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CHIPPENDALE BONNET TOP DESK AND BOOKCASE Eastern Connecticut Circa 1765 Primary Wood: Cherry, Secondary Woods: White Pine, Cherry
Height: 97 inches, Width: 38 inches, Depth: 20 inches
Provenance: Soames Family, Lowell, MA; Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., New York; Dr. Samuel J. Phillips, NY; John Walton, Inc., Connecticut Reference: A similar desk in the Winterthur collection appears in Nancy Evans and Nancy Richards, New England Furniture at Winterthur , entry 203, pages 426-28 and back cover. A desk with a similar interior appears in Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury , #630.
CHIPPENDALE CARVED HIGH CHEST OF DRAWERS New York Circa 1770 Signed and made by R (Robert) Carter Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Woods: Tulip Poplar, White Pine Height: 73 1 / 2 inches, Width: 41 1 / 2 inches, Depth: 21 1 / 2 inches Provenance: Descended in the Townsend Family of Long Island; Bernard and S. Dean Levy, New York; Private Collection, New York References: This high chest appears in Dean Failey, Long Island is My Nation, The Decorative Arts & Craftsmen, 1640-1830 , No. 142, pg 123; Johnathan Fairbanks and Elizabeth Bidwell Bates, American Furniture 1620 to the Present, pg. 113. The “removable leg” construction appears on other New York case pieces including a high chest base made for the Van Rensselaer family, see Roderic H. Blackburn, Cherry Hill - The History of the Van Rensselaer Family, plate 47 B. Robert Carter was a well respected cabinetmaker who was among the leaders of his trade in the Great Procession of 1788, celebrating the ratification of the Constitution. He was Thomas Burling’s brother-in-law and occasional business partner.
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CHIPPENDALE CARVED SECRETARY New York 1750-1755 Attributed to Thomas Brookman Carving attributed to Stephen Dwight (b. 1736) Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: Mahogany, Tulip Poplar, White Pine Height: 99 1 / 4 inches Width: 40 1 / 2 inches Depth: 22 inches
Provenance: Margaret Stuyvesant, New York, c 1750; George McCloskey, New York, 1870-1890; Mrs. William McCloskey, New York 1890-1930; Mary Clare Judge, New York, 1930-1963; John S. Walton, Inc., New York, 1963; Richard P. Mellon, Laughlintown, PA, 1963-1984; John S. Walton, Inc., Connecticut; Private Collection, New York References: This desk and bookcase appears in Luke Beckerdite and Margi Hofer, “Stephen Dwight Reconsidered” in American Furniture, 2016 , figures 19 and 20. It also appears in Beckerdite, "Origins of the Rococo Style in New York Furniture and Interior Architecture," from American Furniture, 1993,
figures 18 and 19.
The attribution to Brookman is based on the nearly identical interior construction of a chest of drawers in a private collection that is documented to Brookman through the Beekman Family papers now at The New York Historical Society. The Van Rensselaer chest at Winterthur and a desk and bookcase at Chipstone are also part of this group. For the discussion of Brookman and his construction techniques please see Beckerdite and Hofer, “Stephen Dwight Reconsidered”, American Furniture, 2016 .
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A PAIR OF CHIPPENDALE CARVED MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIRS Newport Circa 1770 Attributed to John Goddard (1723-1785) Height: 39 1 / 4 inches, Width: 22 1 / 4 x 17 inches Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Wood: Maple Provenance: Private Collection, New York
Reference: For a similar pair of chairs please see Patricia Kane, et al., Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830 , page 348 nn7-9. See also the online database of Rhode Island Furniture, RIF303.
CHIPPENDALE DESK Providence, Rhode Island Circa 1770
Attributed to the shop of John Carlile, Jr. (1762-1832) Primary Wood: Curly Maple Secondary Woods: Chestnut, White Pine, Maple Height: 43 inches, Width: 42 1 / 2 inches, Depth: 22 1 / 2 inches References: J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection , page. 76; Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., "A Comparative Study of the Work of John Carlisle, Jr. of Providence and the Townsends and Goddards of Newport," The Walpole Society Note Book (1991-1992) , p. 79; Wendy A. Cooper and Tara L. Gleason, "A Different Rhode Island Block-and-Shell Story: Providence Provenances and Pitch-Pediments," American Furniture 1999 , figures 4, 27, 46 and 58. See also, Patrica Kane et al, Art & Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830 , page 445, figure 2. As Patricia Kane states, the attribution to Carlile is based upon its close similarity to a desk signed by the cabinetmaker and dated 1785. Externally, both share the same design and proportions for the feet. The details of the drawer construction show the presence of a number of nearly identical woodworking techniques indicating the work of the same hand.
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CHIPPENDALE ARMCHAIR Philadelphia Circa 1770
Associated with George Washington’s living quarters as President in Philadelphia Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Woods: Yellow Pine, Atlantic White Cedar Height: 42 3 / 4 inches, Width: 24 1 / 2 inches, Depth: 19 1 / 2 inches Provenance: This armchair, its mate at Winterthur, and a surviving set of five side chairs all have a history of use in the presidential house in Philadelphia. This chair and the Winterthur armchair share a history of ownership in the Turner family of Philadelphia. Family legend states that the chairs were used as “the Bishop’s chair in the chancel of Trinity Church Philadelphia, ... (but) when the chancel was remodeled the chair was returned.” Reference: This chair remained in the family and was undiscovered until the present. The Winterthur armchair is pictured in Joseph Downs, American Furniture in The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods , entry 37 and Charles Hummel, A Winterthur Guide to American Chippendale Furniture: Middle Atlantic and Southern Colonies , entry 41. See also Stephen Decatur’s 1941 article “George Washington and his Presidential Furni- ture” in The American Collector, February 1941 , pages 8-11 for a discussion of the set of chairs and their association with Washington. The remaining sidechairs reside at Winterthur, in the Kaufman Collection, see J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection , entry 6, and private collections, see The Magazine Antiques , May 1985, page 949.
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THE JOHN DICKINSON CHIPPENDALE SIDE CHAIR Philadelphia Circa 1770 Carving attributed to John Pollard (1740-1787) Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: Yellow Pine, Atlantic White Cedar Height: 39 1 / 4 inches, Width: 22 3 / 4 inches, Depth: 17 inches
Sack, Inc., New York; E. Martin Wunsch (1924-2013), New York. The chair is from an original set of probably fourteen chairs made for Founding Father John Dickinson (all but one of the chairs from the set are known today). Coined “the Penman of the Revolution,” Dickinson was the author of a number of texts that played a critical role in America’s struggle for independence, most notably Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer . Provenance: John Dickinson (1732-1808), Philadelphia; Possibly Sarah Norris Dickinson (1774-1854), daughter; Maria (Dickinson) Logan (1783-1860), Stenton, Germantown, sister; (Sarah) Elizabeth (Logan) Betton (1812-1859), Germantown, daughter; Samuel Betton (1842-1915), White Cottage, Germantown, son; Mary Carstairs (McMichael) Tilghman (1865-1928), niece; Benjamin Chew Tilghman III (1890-1853), son; Israel
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IMPORTANT MINIATURE PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WASHINGTON Enamel on Copper Height: 3 1 / 2 inches, Width: 2 7 / 8 inches Provenance: Dr. William F. Horton, New York; Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York; Collection of Reverend Gallup; Private Collection, New York. Reference: G.A. Eisen, Portraits of Washington, Volume II , pages 491-495 discusses other Birch portraits of Washington, and Plate CLXXIII illustrates a similar miniature; See also, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Paintings and Historical Prints from the Middendorf Collection , number 11. Other examples are in such institutions as The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Yale University Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. William Russell Birch modeled his most celebrated miniatures on full-scale paintings of American heroes. He executed around sixty enamels of George Washington after popular oil portraits by Gilbert Stuart and charged from thirty to one hundred dollars each. Birch's autobiography includes a vivid account of the genesis of these lucrative portraits: "When [Washington] was sitting to Stuart, he told him he had heard there was another artist of merit from London, naming myself, that he would sit to me if I chose. Mr. Stuart brought me the message. I thanked Mr. Stuart, and told him that as he had painted his picture, it would be a mark of the highest imposition to trouble the Gen'l to sit to me, but that when I had copied his Picture of him in Enamel, which was my forte, that I would show it to the Gen'l., and thank him for his kind offer, which, when I had done, I waited upon the Gen'l with a note that an artist waited the Honour of showing personally to the Gen'l a specimen of his talents. When I saw the Gen'l I put the picture into his hands. [He looked at it steadfastly, . . . till feeling myself awkward I begun the history of Enamel Painting, which by the time I got through he complimented.
PAIR OF CHIPPENDALE SIDE CHAIRS Philadelphia Circa 1770 The knee carving attributed to John Pollard (1740-1787), the crest carving attributed to “The Spiky Leaf Carver” Primary Wood: Walnut, Secondary Woods: Atlantic White Cedar, Yellow Pine Height: 40 inches, Width: 24 1 / 2 inches, Depth: 23 inches Provenance: The pair was re-assembled in the 1980s so the chairs have varied histories. They are as follows: Chair III Israel Sack, Inc., New York; E.J. Nusrala, St. Louis, Missouri; and chair VIII, George Horace Lorimer, Pennsylvania; Benjamin Ginsburg, New York; Israel Sack, Inc., New York; E.J. Nusrala, St. Louis, Missouri. References: These chairs appear in Patricia E. Kane, "Living with Antiques: A Saint Louis couple collects," The Magazine Antiques, May 2002 , page 117, plate VIII; and also American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume VIII , page 2083, P5337. They appear in The St. Louis Art Museum exhibition and catalog by David Conradsen, Useful Beauty: Early American Decorative Arts from St. Louis Collections , entry 7. One of these two chairs, or another from the same set, was included in the 1929 exhibition and catalog, Girl Scout Loan Exhibition number 654. The catalog notes that the chair is "a splendid example of great individuality and charm, it deserves a place with the best of Philadelphia's eighteenth century furniture."
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CHIPPENDALE DESK AND BOOKCASE Wallingford Circa 1790 Attributed to Silas Rice Primary Wood: Cherry, Secondary Wood: White Pine, Cherry Height: 88 inches, Width: 40 inches, Depth: 22 inches Provenance: Miss Mary E. Hubbard, Connecticut; George and William Samaha, Ohio; Private Collection, Michigan. References: Illustrated and exhibited in A Furniture Festival; Early American Furniture from Collections in the Western Reserve, 1969 , entry 22 and Three Centuries of Connecticut Furniture, 1635-1935 , #110. For a discussion of the Silas Rice group and other similar examples please see Thomas P. and Alice K. Kugelman with Robert Lionetti, Connecticut Valley Furniture, Eliphalet Chapin and His Contemporaries, 1750-1800 , pages 406-416.
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SET OF FOUR FEDERAL SIDE CHAIRS Philadelphia Circa 1815 Primary Wood: Maple Secondary Wood: Maple, White Pine Height: 33 1 /
Portsmouth Circa 1795 Primary Woods: Mahogany, Flame Birch Secondary Woods: White Pine Height: 38 inches Width: 38 1 / 2 inches Depth: 21 inches Provenance: Nathan Liverant and Son Antiques FINE FEDERAL FLAME BIRCH INLAID BOW FRONT CHEST
2 inches, Width: 19 inches, Depth: 18 inches
Provenance: Israel Sack, Inc., New York Reference: These chairs appear in American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume VII p. 1972, no. P5236 and American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume VIII p. 2300, no. P5236. Another chair from the set appears in James Biddle's exhibition catalog, American Art from American Collections, no. 30. For a sideboard with related legs see Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum , p. 366, no. 349.
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A DOCUMENTED EAGLE INLAID FEDERAL TALL CASE CLOCK With Works signed and made by Robert Joyce
Case Made and Labelled by Slover And Kortwright, New York, (partnership lasted from 1795-1796), New York 1795-1796 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: White Pine, Tulip Poplar Height: 98 inches, Width: 19 inches, Depth: 9 1 / 2 inches Provenance: Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York; Private Collection, Wisconsin
Reference: The clock appears in William C. Ketchum, Jr., American Cabinetmakers - Marked American Furniture, 1640 - 1940, pages 315 - 316. For information on Robert Joyce see Distin and Bishop, The American Clock , page 316, and Brooks Palmer, The Book of American Clocks , page 235. Robert Joyce was a London trained clock maker whose clients in New York included Alexander Hamilton. Perhaps his most famous clock was made for Hamilton who gave it to the Bank of New York in 1797. That clock is currently in The New York Historical Society collection. A second Joyce clock associated with Hamilton is at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession 2004.24. That clock was given by Hamilton to the Philadelphia based First Bank of the United States around 1797. Slover and Cortwright were in partnership for only two years, 1795-6, at 30 Cortland Street.
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THE TOTTEN FAMILY CLASSICAL MIRROR New York Circa 1815 Primary Wood: White Pine, Secondary Wood: White Pine Height: 56 inches, Width: 39 inches
Provenance: Totten Family, Staten Island, New York; R. Button, Historic Richmond Town, Staten Island, New York; Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York; Private Collection, Harrison, New York. Reference: Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., Catalogue V, page 142. Flat glass mirrors are rare but appear in Philadelphia and New York. For a similar example at The Albany Institute please see New York Furniture Before 1840 in the Collection of the Albany Institute of History and Art , page 58.
A CLASSICAL SCROLLED ARM SETTEE New York Circa 1820 Primary Wood: Mahogany, Rosewood Secondary Wood: Ash, Tulip Poplar, White Pine Height: 29 1 / 2 inches Width: 65 inches Depth: 22 1 / 2 inches Reference: A nearly identical example is in the collection of the MFA, Boston, Accession number 68.21.
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A VERY RARE PAIR OF EAGLE BASED CARD TABLES New York Circa 1815 Attributed to Duncan Phyfe (1770-1854) Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Woods: White Pine, Tulip Poplar Height: 29 1 / 2 inches, Width: 36 inches, Depth: 19 inches Provenance: The tables descended in the Conger family of New York; Berry Tracy, Goshen New York; Gloria and Richard Manney, New York; Private Collection, Virginia Reference: These tables appear in Hidden Treasures, Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture , pages 215, 225-7. A similar pair that descended in the Demarest Family of New York and New Jersey are split between Yale University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. See also, Nancy A. McClelland, Duncan Phyfe and the English Regency, 1795–1830 , page 148, plate 12.
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FEDERAL DWARF CLOCK Hanover, Massachusetts Circa 1815
Movement made and signed by Reuben Tower, (1775-1881) Primary Wood: White Pine (Painted), Secondary Wood: White Pine Height: 48 inches, Width: 11 1 / 4 inches, Depth: 9 inches Reference: The clock appears in Zea and Cheney, Clockmaking in New England , page 106, figures 4-15 and 4-16. Reuben Tower (1795-1881) was a member of the influential Quaker clockmakers working in southeastern Massachusetts. He was likely apprenticed to Joshua Wilder. Tower produced clocks in the same manner as Wilder and also married his daughter Rebecca Hathaway Wilder in 1819. Tower worked locally in the adjacent towns of Hingham, Hanover, Kingston and Plymouth. While he produced just two tall clocks and a handful of shelf clocks and banjo clocks he specialized in fine dwarf clocks. All are in similar cases and styles to those made by Wilder and the cases are attributed to nearby Weymouth cabinetmaker Abiel White.
CLASSICAL CARD TABLE New York Circa 1815 Attributed to Duncan Phyfe (1770-1854) Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: Tulip Poplar, White Pine, Ash Height: 29 inches, Width: 35 3 /
4 inches, Depth: 18 inches Reference: The table has the fluted "drum" turning associated with the documented Brinkerhoff suite of furniture made by Phyfe in 1815. See Peter Kenny et al, Duncan Phyfe, Master Cabinetmaker in New York , plate 19. For the card table from this suite, which is nearly identical to this example, see the same reference, figure 81.
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A NEO-CLASSICAL WINE COOLER Philadelphia Circa 1825
Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Wood: Tulip Poplar Height: 24 inches, Width: 32 inches, Depth: 19 inches
CARVED SHOP SIGN Mid Atlantic States Circa 1800 Primary Wood: Poplar by micro-analysis Height: 25 inches Width: 20 1 / 2 inches Depth: 3 inches Reference: Other Eighteenth century carved shop signs appear in Robert Bishop’s, American Folk Sculpture , pages 22-28. This is likely the shop sign of a carver, given the activity of the figure in the sign.
Reference: The form is represented in a number of regions throughout Federal America. For an excellent article on ones made in New York please see Susan Solny, “Some Unusual Stylistic Preferences in New York Cellaret Design, 1810-1834” in Studies in the Decorative Arts, Fall-Winter 1997-1998 , pages 83-128.
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