G allery C atalog 2024
917-841-3824 • Frank@Levygalleries.com Levygalleries.com
G alleries INC Levy G allery C atalog 2024
After a very unusual and challenging few years since our 2020 edition I am very proud and excited to present my 2024 gallery catalog. I hope you find it an interesting and useful addition to your decorative arts library. You may notice a change in the name of the gallery but I don’t think you will find a variation from the quality and rarity that over 120 years of Levy family participation in the world of American antiques allows. As always, this is just a small sampling of what is available and you are cordially invited to visit the gallery website, www.levygalleries.com, to see much more. Of course an in person visit is also welcome! I would be remiss if I did not thank the two people who were most helpful in putting this together. Richard Goodbody’s photography brings out the best in these pieces and is true to their color, form and shape. Bill Hansen’s deft touch and design acumen are most appreciated and exemplified by this catalog. My deepest thanks to them both.
Enjoy the catalog!
Frank Levy January, 2024
PAIR OF CHIPPENDALE SIDE CHAIRS Philadelphia Circa 1760 Carving attributed to the Garvan Carver Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Woods: Atlantic White Cedar, YellowPine Height: 39 inches, Width: 22 inches, Depth: 17 inches Provenance: Purchased from the family of Charles Hallam Keep; Ginsburg & Levy, New York; Private Collection, Washington, D.C. A very similar chair once in the collection of Howard Reifsnyder appears in The Girl Scouts Loan Exhibit , number 654.
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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CHIPPENDALE HIGH CHEST OF DRAWERS Pennsylvania, Likely Lancaster Circa 1775 Primary Wood: Walnut Secondary: Tulip Poplar, Yellow Pine
Height: 98 inches Width: 44 inches Depth: 22 1/4 inches
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CHIPPENDALE TALL CHEST OF DRAWERS South County, Rhode Island Circa 1770 Primary Wood: Maple Secondary Woods: White Pine, Chestnut
Height: 57 3/4 inches Width: 39 1/4 inches Depth: 20 inches
QUEEN ANNE TRIPOD TABLE Philadelphia Circa 1750 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Wood: Mahogany Height: 28 1/4 inches Diameter of top: 23 1/2 inches by 24 1/4 inches Reference: Illustrated in Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., Gallery Catalog IV , page 33.
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CHIPPENDALE CAMEL-BACK SOFA WITH MARLBOROUGH LEGS Philadelphia. Circa 1770 Primary Wood: Mahogany
Secondary Woods: Ash, Oak, Tulip Poplar, Yellow Pine Height: 41 inches Width: 85 inches Depth: 33 1/2 inches Provenance: Israel Sack, Inc., New York
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THE APTHORP FAMILY QUEEN ANNE SIDE CHAIR Likely New York Circa 1750 Chair and seat frame marked IIII Primary Woods: Walnut, Maple Secondary Woods: Maple, White Pine Height: 28 1/2 inches Width: 21 3/4 inches Depth: 21 1/2 inches Provenance: A handwritten note on a seat rail states "This "Apthorp Chair" which to the Eldest]/ daughter of each generation, named/ Elizabeth - belonged to my Great-Great/ Great Grandmother - Madam Apthorp - of/ Boston & at my death is to be given to/ my [eldest daughter] Elizabeth, to be left/ [to her descendants in] the same maner/ [signed El]izabeth H. McCalla." Sold to Ginsburg & Levy, Inc., New York; Benjamin and Cora Ginsburg, Tarrytown; Private Collection. Reference: This chair appears in American Art, 1750-1800 , Victorian and Albert Museum, 1962, no. 121. Other chairs from the set are at Chipstone and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For a full discussion of the chairs and various viewpoints of their place of origin please see Miller, Keno and Freund, “The Very Pink of the Mode: Boston Georgian Chairs, Their Export, and Their Influence,” published in American Furniture, 1996 and Philip D. Zimmerman, "Boston or New York? Revisiting the Apthorp-Family and Related Sets of Queen Anne Chairs," in Boston Furniture, 1700-1900 .
KAST Probably Kings County (Brooklyn), New York or Possibly Bergen County Circa 1775 Primary Woods: Red Gum, Yellow Poplar, Mahogany Veneer Secondary Woods: Poplar, White Pine Height: 78 3/4 inches, Width: 74 3/4 inches, Depth: 27 inches For a kast with a very similar design layout please see Peter Kenny, American Kasten; The Dutch-Style Cupboards of New York and New Jersey, 1650- 1800 , entry 16 for a Bergen County example and entry 9 for a Kings County example.
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CHIPPENDALE DESK AND BOOKCASE New York Circa 1770 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: Tulip Poplar, White Pine, Yellow Pine Height: 99 1/4 inches ,Width: 44 inches, Depth: 20 3/4 inches
Reference: The carved cartouche strongly resembles the work of either Henry Hardcastle or one of his apprentices such as James Strachan. See Luke Beckerdite's "Immigrant Carvers and the Development of the Rococo Style" in American Furniture, 1996 , figure 15. The carved elements relate to a group that is identified in Luke Beckerdite's, "Origins of the Rococo Style in New York Furniture and Interior Architecture," in American Furniture, 1993 , figures 11, 13, and 19.A
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CHIPPENDALE BLOCK-FRONT CHEST OF DRAWERS Boston Circa 1755 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Wood: White Pine Height: 31 1/2 inches Width: 39 1/4 inches Depth: 23 1/2 inches Provenance: Mr. Eddy Nicholson, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
CHIPPENDALE TALL-CASE CLOCK The Dial Signed by Wood and Hudson Mount Holly, New Jersey Circa 1770
Primary Wood: Walnut, Secondary Woods: Yellow Pine, Tulip Poplar Height: 92 1/4 inches, Width: 19 1/4 inches, Depth: 10 1/4 inches Provenance: Daniel Kimble (1835-1915), Springfield, New Jersey.
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CHIPPENDALE DRESSING TABLE
Philadelphia
Circa 1760
Primary Wood: Walnut Secondary Woods: White Pine, Tulip Poplar
Height: 30 3/4 inches Width: 34 1/2 inches Depth: 21 1/4 inches
Provenance: Mabel Brady Garvan, New York; James L. Britton, Texas
Reference: The dressing table appears in Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury, Volume I , no. 442; and was exhibited in American Art Galleries, The Girl Scout Loan Exhibition of Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Furniture and Glass, September 25 - October 9, 1929 , number 642. A closely related suite of high chest and dressing table are in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, see Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley, American Furniture 1650-1840; Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art , pages 88-9.
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CHIPPENDALE ACCORDION ACTION CARD TABLE Boston Circa 1770 Primary Wood: Mahogany
Secondary Woods: White Pine, Maple
Height: 28 1/2 inches Width: 35 1/2 inches Depth: 17 1/2 inches
Provenance: This table belonged to Captain Thomas Frazar of Sudbury Massachsetts who married Rebecca Alden (Great granddaughter of the pilgrim John Alden) in 1760. There is a family history written by descendant Mrs. Amherst D. Frazar. The history traces the table to Amherst Alden Frazar, a grandson of the original owner. Israel Sack, Inc., New York; The Collection of Ervin and Joy Wolf, New York. Reference: The table was included in the exhibition AmericanRococo , 1750 -1775: Elegance in Ornament, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 22 - May 17, 1992. It is included in the exhibition catalog, figure 98. The table also appears in American Antiques, Israel Sack Collection , Volume I , pages 215 and 225. The hinges on the accordion action are marked H: Tibbats for Hugh Tibbats, a brazier and hinge maker from Wolverhampton. He appears in the directory from 1770-1780 but not before or after.
Paul Cornoyer (1864-1923) Washington Square, Winter
Circa 1910
signed Paul Cornoyer, lower left oil on canvas 30 1/4 x 24 7/8 inches Provenance: Private collection, New Jersey
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THE CALEB GARDNER FAMILY CHIPPENDALE TWO SHELL BONNET-TOP SECRETARY Newport, Rhode Island Circa 1765 Attributed to Daniel Spencer (1741-1796)
Primary Woods: Sabicu, Mahogany Secondary Woods: Cedar, Tulip Poplar, Chestnut
Height: 102 inches Width: 39 1/2 inches Depth: 23 1/2 inches
Provenance: Caleb Gardner (1739–1806), Newport, Rhode Island; by descent to his daughter Mrs. Audley Clarke (nee Mary Gardner, 1776–1845), Newport, Rhode Island; by descent to her son Peleg Clarke (1796–1887), Newport, Rhode Island; by descent to his son Henry Audley Clarke (1832–1910), Newport, Rhode Island, and later Brooklyn, New York; by descent to his son Audley Clarke (1862–1947), Brooklyn, New York; by descent to his son Jeremiah Clarke (1897–1964), Old Brookville, New York; Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., New York, 1963.
Reference: Illustrated on pages 342 and 343 in Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport - The Townsends and the Goddards.
Caleb Gardner was an officer in the Revolution, a friend of George Washington, French Consul at Newport, and member of the Rhode Island State Government.Daniel Spencer likely trained with his uncle, John Goddard, in Newport. A signed desk and bookcase is known and a multitude of important Rhode Island pieces are attributed to him including the Nicholas Brown nine shell desk and bookcase in a private collection, the Jabez Bowen chest on chest at Chipstone, and the John Brown desk and bookcase at Yale. For remarkably similar carved shells, of the same design and large size, see the clothes press at Chipstone.
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FEDERAL SOFA
Portsmouth Circa 1800 Primary Woods: Mahogany, Fme Birch, Bird's-eye Maple Secondary Woods: Maple, White Pine Height: 34 1/2 inches,Width: 74 1/2 inches, Depth: 24 inches Provenance: Dr. C. Ray Franklin, Kentucky; Eddy Nicholson, New Hampshire; Private Collection, Texas. Reference: A nearly identical sofa is illustrated in Brock Jobe, Portsmouth Furniture: Masterworks from the New Hampshire Seacoast , catalog no. 106. For another similar sofa in the Winterthur collection see Charles F. Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period, entry 271.
FEDERAL CARD TABLE North Shore of Massachusetts or Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Circa 1790
Primary Wood: Mahogany, Flame Birch Secondary Woods: White Pine, Maple Height: 29 3/4 inches, Width: 37 inches, Depth: 18 inches Provenance: Dr. C. Ray Franklin, Kentucky; Israel Sack, Inc., New York
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THE FOSDICK FAMILY FEDERAL BANJO TIMEPIECE Simon Willard, The glass signed and painted by Spencer Nolan Roxbury 1805-1808 With portraits by James Frothingham of the original owners, David and Joann Fosdick Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Wood: White Pine Height: 43 1/2 inches, Width: 10 3/4 inches, Depth: 4 inches Provenance: Fosdick family of Boston and Plymouth Massachusetts; Israel Sack, Inc, New York Reference: The clock appears in American Furniture From Israel Sack Collection , Volume VI, pages 1652-3. It also appears in Petrucelli and Sposato, American Banjo Clocks , pages 66-7.
FEDERAL INLAID DRESSING BOX WITH GLASS Attributed to John and Thomas Seymour Boston Circa 1805
Primary Woods: Mahogany, Birch, Maple, Secondary Wood: White Pine
Height: 19 1/4 inches, Width: 21 1/2 inches, Depth: 10 1/4 inches
Reference: For a similar form attributed to the Seymours see Robert Mussey, The Furniture Masterworks of John and Thomas Seymour , entry 58, pages 250-1. See also Vernon C. Stoneman, A Supplement to John and Thomas Seymour, Cabinetmakers in Boston, 1794-1816 , page 95.
An extremely rare and early example of Willard's patented time piece and one of only a handful of clocks signed by the glass painter.
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FEDERAL EAGLE INLAID TALL CASE CLOCK Movement signed and dial painted by Christian Eby Case Attributed to George Dyer Manheim, Pennsylvania Circa 1800 Primary Wood: Cherry Secondary Woods: Tulip Poplar, Yellow Pine
BOWFRONT CHEST OF DRAWERS Inlaid with an Eagle on the Top New England, Likely Connecticut River Valley Circa 1810 Height: 35 inches, Width: 43 1/2 inches, Depth: 24 inches
Height: 96 1/4 inches Width: 19 3/4 inches Depth: 10 inches
Primary Wood: Cherry, Walnut banding Secondary Wood: White Pine Reference: The chest appears in American Art from American Collections , entry 53, page 28 and was exhibited in the corresponding show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The backboards are arranged in a stacked horizontal fashion as seen in clocks from central New Jersey, Delaware and Central Pennsylvania. See Philip D. Zimmerman, Delaware Clocks , for a discussion of this construction.
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EARLY BANJO TIME PIECE Attributed to Simon Willard (1743-1848) Roxbury, Massachusetts 1805-08 With a period pine and walnut shipping crate Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: Mahogany, White Pine Height: 34 inches, Width: 10 inches Surviving packing crates are exceedingly rare and only two are published. An Aaron Willard clock appears in American Antiques, Israel Sack Collection, Volume VII , pages 1930-31. Another in The Philip and Anne Holzer Collection , entry 34, pages 98-101.descended in the Penniman family of Boston, well known artists and painters. Provenance: According to family tradition the clock descended in the Penniman family of Boston, well known artists and painters.
THE SAMUEL AND ELIZABETH BRIDGHAM FEDERAL BED With Two Portraits of Samuel Bridgham (May 4, 1774 – December 28, 1840) and his wife Elizabeth Paine Bridgham (1776–1853). Bed - Providence, Rhode Island, Circa 1800 Primary Wood: Mahogany, Painted White Pine Headboard Secondary Wood: Maple rails Height: 84 inches without tester Width: 56 inches, Depth: 76 inches Portraits attributed to Samuel Lovett Waldo and William Jewett 35 3/4 X 28 1/2 inches Circa 1835 Provenance: The bed and portraits originally made for Samuel and Elizabeth Bridgham of Providence and they descended in the Bridgham family. Samuel Bridgham is one of the most consequential citizens of Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of Brown University, he became a lawyer before entering politics. He served nineteen terms in the Rhode Island General Assembly, including two as Speaker. He also served asAttorney General of Rhode Island for four years. In 1821 Bridgham ran for Governor on the Federalist Ticket but lost to William C. Gibbs. When Providence was incorporated as a city in 1832 he was elected its first Mayor and served in that office until his death in 1840. A copy of the portrait here offered is in Providence City Hall. Bridgham also served as a Trustee of Brown University and as its Chancellor from 1828 to 1840.
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“THE DEATH OF SYLVIA’S STAG" Silk on Silk Pictorial Needlework Saunders and Beach Academy Boston Circa 1815 15 1/2 X 16 1/2 inches, Frame 25 x 24 inches
Provenance: A label on the back of the frame states, "Property of Eliza J. Carol Huber, Connecticut; Private Collection, Connecticut. Reference: For a full discussion and history of the Saunders and Beach Academy please see Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery, Volume I , pages 94-99. Womersly, Bequethed to Mary E. Norcross, Nov., 1925." Stephen and
EMPIRE MARBLE TOP PIER TABLE
Attributed To Michael Allison New York, Circa 1815 Provenance: Family tradition states that the table was made for Abraham Van Wyck (1774-1864) of Fishkill, New York and descended in his family; Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc.; Private Collection, New York. Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Woods: White Pine, Tulip Poplar Height: 36 inches Width: 40 1/2 inches Depth: 19 1/4 inches General Abraham Van Wyck, son of Theodoros Van Wyck and Aeltje Brinckerhoff Van Wyck, served in The War of 1812 initially as a Colonel and later attaining the rank of General in the New York State Militia. His house in Fishkill, built in 1802, still stands.
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FEDERAL DESK AND BOOKCASE The case attributed to Thomas Seymour The eglomise panels to John Ritto Penniman
Boston Circa 1810
Primary Woods: Mahogany, Satinwood, Ebony Secondary Woods: White Pine, Chestnut, Maple
Height: 77 inches Width: 38 3/4 inches Depth: 21 3/4 inches
HEPPLEWHITE MIRROR WITH AN EGLOMISE PANEL
Provenance: Israel Sack Inc., New York.
Reference: Fewer than five desk and bookcases with eglomise panels are known. For another example please see Robert Mussey, The Furniture Masterworks of John and Thomas Seymour , entry 20 and back cover.
AND ORIGINAL FINIAL New York Circa 1795
Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Wood: White Pine
Height: 62 1/2 inches Width: 24 inches
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FEDERAL WORK TABLE Attributed to the workshop of Thomas Seymour, possibly with John Seymour Boston. 1805-1812 Primary Woods: Satinwood, Casuarina (She-oak), Mahogany, Burlwood Veneer Secondary Wood: White Pine, Mahogany Height: 30 1/4 inches Width: 21 inches Depth: 17 1/4 inches For a nearly identical table with the same brass pulls see Robert D. Mussey, Jr., The Furniture Masterworks of John & Thomas Seymour, entry 83, pages 300-301. Provenance: The Hemingway family of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
James Sharples (1751-1811) Portrait of George Washington Circa 1796 Pastel, Black chalk underdrawing, Toned (dark blue gray) wove paper. 8 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches
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