G allery C atalog 2025
917-841-3824 • Frank@Levygalleries.com Levygalleries.com
G alleries INC Levy G allery C ataloG 2025
I am very pleased to present the 2025 edition of The Levy Galleries catalog. As always, this is just a small representation of what the gallery has to offer from our collection of American Decorative and related Arts. 2024 was a year filled with magnificent finds, some of which are included within these pages. I am particularly pleased to offer a number of pieces that have never left their original families and this is the first time any collector or institution has had a chance to acquire them. I am equally proud to show some "round trippers" or pieces once owned by Ginsburg & Levy, Inc. or Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc. Finally, a most heartfelt thanks to the two people who make these catalogs possible. Bill Hansen designs the catalog with great care and sensitivity to the subject and Richard Goodbody provides the incredibly beautiful and accurate photographs. Without their efforts this catalog would not happen. I hope you enjoy perusing the pages within and look forward to any questions you might have and especially to a visit.
THE FRANKLIN FAMILY WILLIAM AND MARY GATELEG TABLE New Jersey or Pennsylvania Circa 1730 Primary Wood: Walnut Secondary Woods: Yellow Pine, Atlantic White Cedar (both by micro-analysis)
Frank Levy January, 2025
Height: 29 inches Width: 21 1/4 inches Depth: 47 1/2 inches
Provenance: A handwritten note affixed to the drawer states, “To Whom It May Concern— This Gate Leg Mahogany / table has been Handed down / from the Estates of / William Franklin at Rancocas / Park N.J. To My Grand Father / Benj Franklin who was born / At Hainesport N.J. also / My father Joseph Franklin / Who after moved to / Camden N.J. where I was born. William L Franklin”
A drop-leaf table with a related turning at the Monmouth County Historical Association has a history of fabrication by Thomas Warne (1652 - 1722), a carpenter and joiner of Wickatunk, N.J., about 7 miles north of Freehold. This single example aside, most similarly-turned tables are from the Philadelphia area. In 1928, Philadelphia philanthropist Lydia Thompson Morris (1849-1932) donated a tea table of 1730-50 to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (accession no. 1028-7-110) with a very similar turning. Owned in her Philadelphia-based family, the table was almost certainly made there.
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Photos by Richard Goodbody Layout and design by The Hansen Company Advertising
Thanks to Dr. Philip Zimmerman for his help with this entry.
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SLANT FRONT DESK Signed and likely made by Abraham Tourtellot (1698-1762) Glocester, Rhode Island Probably 1743
Primary Wood: Maple Secondary Woods: Maple, Chestnut, White Pine
Height: 44 1/2 inches Width: 35 1/2 inches Depth: 19 7/8 inches
Marks: Incised on exterior bottom and exterior proper left side of interior drawer “AHTourtellot.” Provenance: Hannah Tourtellot (nee Case, widow of Jeremiah Corps (Corpe)) and Abraham Tourtellot (1698-1762), Glocester, Rhode Island; Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., New York; Private Collection, Michigan; Private Collection, New Jersey. According to Patricia Kane, this may be the desk referred to in the family's 1762 estate inventory for "45 pounds." Reference: The desk is fully illustrated in Patricia Kane, et al, Art & Industry in Early America; Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830 , entry 13, pages 165-167. It was included in the associated exhibition.
WILLIAM AND MARY HIGH CHEST OF DRAWERS Boston Circa 1710
Primary Woods: Walnut, Maple Secondary Woods: White Pine
Height: 61 1/2 inches Width: 40 3/4 inches Depth: 22 1/4 inches
Provenance: Frederic B. Pratt, Brooklyn, New York, 1914; The Brooklyn Museum.
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CHIPPENDALE DRESSING TABLE Attributed to William Larkin Chester County, Pennsylvania Circa 1765 Primary Wood: Walnut Secondary Woods: Tulip Poplar, Chestnut
PAINT DECORATED BOX WITH DRAWER Attributed to Robert Crosman (1707--1799) Taunton, Massachusetts Circa 1727 Primary Wood: White Pine; Secondary Wood: White Pine Height: 10 inches Width: 16 inches Depth: 9 inches
Height: 29 1/2 inches Width: 36 inches Depth: 21 3/4 inches
Reference: For the Larkin attribution please see Wendy A. Cooper, Paint, Pattern and People , plate XV.
Reference: The chest is listed in the seminal work on Crosman chests by Esther Stevens Brazer in The Magazine Antiques, April 1933 , pages 135-138. For more current scholarship on Crosman chests, please see the article in American Furniture 2018 entitled "Revisiting Taunton: Robert Crosman, Esther Stevens Brazer, and the Changing Interpretations of Taunton Chests", pages 106-169, by Emelie Gevalt. Gevalt’s catalog of Crosman’s work includes this example, number 26, and a nearly identical box, number 25, from the collection of Nina Fletcher Little that was donated to Historic New England (1991.312).
Provenance: Homer F. Whittemore, Weston, Massachusetts (c. 1879-1961). 5
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BALL AND CLAW FOOT DISHED TOP CANDLE-STAND Philadelphia Circa 1765
CHIPPENDALE PIE CRUST TEA TABLE New York Circa 1770 Primary Wood: Mahogany; Secondary Wood: Mahogany
Primary Wood: Mahogany; Secondary Wood: Mahogany Height: 28 1/2 inches Width: 24 3/4 inches Depth: 24 inches Reference: The table appears in American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection , Volume I , number 314, page 108. Provenance: Israel Sack, Inc.; Private Collection, New York.
Height: 28 inches Diameter of top: 31 1/4 inches
Reference: A pole screen with nearly identical carving from a private Wisconsin Collection sold at Sotheby's, Americana, January 2018, lot 784.
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CHIPPENDALE SIDE CHAIR Possibly by John Goddard Newport Circa 1770 Primary Wood: Walnut; Secondary Wood: White Pine
Height: 40 inches Width: 22 inches Depth: 19 inches
CHIPPENDALE HIGH CHEST OF DRAWERS Attributed to Thomas Tufft (1740-1788) Philadelphia Circa 1770 Provenance: Joe Kindig, Jr. York, Pennsylvania; Dr. Paul Delong, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Ginsburg & Levy, Inc. New York. Reference: Illustrated in a Joseph Kindig, Inc. advertisement in The Magazine Antiques, December 1936 . Also see Oscar P. Fitzgerald, Three Centuries of American Furniture, page 80, figure IV-64; The broken arch top of this highboy is similar to the Worrall Family highboy pictured in William Horner, Jr., Blue Book of Philadelphia Furniture , plate 160. For another very similar triangular pediment Philadelphia high chest made for Richard Edwards and documented by a bill to the Tufft shop see Christie’s, Important Philadelphia Furniture from the Edwards Family, May 28, 1987, lot 201 and Carl M. Williams, “Thomas Tufft and His Furniture for Richard Edwards,” The Magazine Antiques, October, 1948 .
Reference: This form of Newport chair is well represented in major museum collections. For other chairs of this type please see Patricia E. Kane et al., Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830 , 58n23 and 341n2–3 and 341n2, no. 69, fig. 1, 3–4.; Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Furniture at Chipstone , number 52, pages 122–123; and Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards , 14, 58, fig. 1.49.
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THE AMES - FROTHINGHAM FAMILY QUEEN ANNE HIGH CHEST OF DRAWERS With carving attributed to John Welch Boston Circa 1750
Primary Wood: Walnut Secondary Wood: White Pine
Height: 88 inches Width: 43 1/4 inches Depth: 22 3/4 inches
THE HOUSTON FAMILY CHIPPENDALE HIGH CHEST OF DRAWERS Pennsylvania, possibly Lancaster Circa 1770
The high chest has never been out of the family of the original owner and remains in the finest condition. The carved drawers are remarkable expressions of Welch's work and recall the spandrels of the clock now in the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago. Reference: For related carving on an important group of Boston 18th Century furniture please see Alan Miller, "Roman Gusto in New England: An Eighteenth Century Boston Furniture Designer and His Shop" in American Furniture, 1993.
Primary Wood: Walnut Secondary Woods: Yellow Pine, Tulip Poplar, Atlantic White Cedar
Heigh: 104 inches Width: 44 1/2 inches Depth: 25 inches
Reference: For other similarly decorated high chest of drawers please see one at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Kirtley, American Furniture 1650-1840, Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art , entry 51, pages 86-7; and one at Yale, see Gerald Ward, American Case Furniture in the Mabel Brady Garvan and other Collections at Yale University , entries116 and 147. Provenance: Johannes (John) Bushong Sr. (1750-1831) and wife Eve Dorothea Eckman (1755-1819); to son Henry Bushong (1783-1870) and his first wife Sarah Gilbert (1787-1831): to daughter Lydia Bushong (1807-1885) and husband Abraham Rakestraw (1799-1874); to daughter Esther Rakestraw (1843-1929) and husband Joseph Willis Houston (1834-1920); to brother Robert John Houston (1832-1910) and wife Margaret Wiley (1840-1901); to Mrs. Margaret Jean Wiley Smith, daughter of William Martin Wiley and Hannah Jane Dull and wife of Judge Eugene G. Smith (1853-1928) married in Lancaster, PA. in 1882.
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A MASTERPIECE CHIPPENDALE SLAB TABLE Carved by John Welch (1711-1789) Boston Circa 1755 Primary Wood: Mahogany, Secondary Woods: Soft Maple, Ash (by Microanalysis)
Height: 32 1/2 inches Width: 56 inches Depth: 27 inches Base dimensions: Width: 38 1/2 inches Depth: 21 inches
Provenance: A conceivable line of descent based on the most recent ownership of the table traces it back to Boston merchant Middlecott Cooke (1705-1771), who would have known Welch since Cooke was a Selectman and involved with the aftermath of the 1747 fire in the Old State House around the time Welch did architectural carving for the building. Cooke died childless and gave his Boston mansion to his nephew, Nathaniel Saltonstall. At this time, Cooke's probate inventory has not been located. However, Nathaniel Saltonstall's 1815 inventory has “1 marble slab Table" valued at $8. The table appears to have descended through the Saltonstall family until acquired by us. (Special thanks to Martha Willoughby for the genealogical research.) Reference: Although John Welch's carving is both well documented and published, this appears to be the only complete slab table by him that is known. For other furniture, architecture and frames carved by Welch please see Alan Miller, “Roman Gusto in New England: An Eighteenth-Century Boston Furniture Designer and His Shop,” in American Furniture, 1993 . Note that the unusual animal paw feet on this table relate directly to two clocks carved by Welch and published as figures 27-33 in the above reference.
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THE JASON HAVEN BLOCKFRONT DESK AND BOOKCASE Boston Circa 1755
Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: White Pine, Cedar, Maple
Height: 95 inches Width: 40 inches Depth: 24 3/4 inches
Provenance: Made for Reverend Jason Haven (1733-1803) of Dedham, Massachusetts; to his son, Judge Samuel Haven (1771-1847) who build Haven House in Dedham; to his son Samuel Foster Haven (1806-1881); through the family until likely auctioned in 1922 with the remainder of the furniture in Haven House; by descent to the most recent owners.
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CHIPPENDALE SIDE CHAIR Philadelphia Circa 1770 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: Atlantic White Cedar, Yellow Pine
Height: 38 inches Width: 24 inches Depth: 22 inches
Provenance: William Greenleaf Boardman, Hartford, Connecticut; Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc.; Ralph Esmerian, New York; Private Collection, Virginia
Reference: This chair is part of a set, one example of which is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated in Morrison H. Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Late Colonial Period: The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles , pages 103-104, plate 57 and The Girl Scouts' Loan Exhibition, number 637; Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc. Galley Catalog VII , page 46.
INLAID BOW-FRONT CHEST OF DRAWERS Baltimore Circa 1790 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: Tulip Poplar, White Pine
Height: 37 inches Width 41 inches Depth: 23 inches
Provenance: According to a note no longer with the chest it descended in the Contee family; to John C. Tolland, Baltimore, Maryland.
Reference: This chest appears in Edgar Miller, Jr, American Antique Furniture , 1937, page 409, number 735.
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THE VALENTINE OPP MUSICAL TALL CASE CLOCK Made circa 1774 by Joseph Ellicott Buckingham, Pennsylvania Inscribed #60
Primary Wood: Cherry Secondary Wood: White Pine, Tulip Poplar
Height: 92 inches Width: 19 inches Depth: 12 1/2 inches
Provenance: Inventories and probates confirm the following descent of the clock: Made for Captain Valentine Opp (Oup) Esquire (1734-1797); To his son, Valentine Opp, Jr. (1768- 1853); to his son Morgan Opp (1812-1868); to Mrs. William Montague, Norristown, Pennsylvania; sold at the William D. Morley auction of Mrs. Montague’s collection, April 12-20, 1937; private Pennsylvania collection. Reference: This clock appears in Gary Sullivan and Kate Van Winkle Keller, Musical Clocks of Early America, 1730-1830, entry 46, page 110. At that time its location was unknown. The best known musical clock by Ellicott, and perhaps the greatest American clock extant, is the twenty four tune clock dated 1769 at The Smithsonian Institution. See pages 104- 109 of the above stated reference.
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IMPORTANT FEDERAL DESK AND BOOKCASE Attributed to Duncan Phyfe New York Circa 1825 Primary Woods: Mahogany, Satinwood Secondary Wood: Tulip Poplar
Height: 78 inches, Width: 39 inches, Depth: 22 inches
Reference: This same desk was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition catalogue of 1963, American Art from American Collections: Decorative Arts, Paintings, and Prints of the Colonial and Federal Periods from Private Collections, page 37. See a similar desk and bookcase in 19th Century America: Furniture and other Decorative Arts; An Exhibition in Celebration of the Hundredth Anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , image 20.
Note the similarities of the treatment of the corner of the cornice with the corners of a signed and dated Phyfe window seat made for Robert Donaldson and now at The Brooklyn Museum, see Plate 34 of Peter Kenny, Michael Brown, et al., Duncan Phyfe, Master Cabinetmaker in New York .
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PAIR OF CLASSICAL GIRANDOLE MIRRORS New York Circa 1800 Primary Wood: Gilded White Pine Secondary Wood: White Pine Height: 40 1/2 inches Width: 22 inches Depth: 12 inches Provenance: C. Howard White, New York; Private Collection, Harrison, New York
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HUDSON RIVER LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES By Thomas Chambers (1808-1865) Circa 1835 Oil On Canvas 22 X 30 inches Provenance: Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York; The Hepp Collection, New York, NewYork.
FEDERAL MARBLE TOP PIER TABLE Attributed to John and Thomas Seymour Boston 1798-1805 Primary Wood: Mahogany, Bird's eye maple Secondary Woods: White Pine, Maple
Height: 35 inches Width: 42 1/4 inches Depth: 21 inches
Provenance: Dr. Paul deLong, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York.
Reference: Illustrated and discussed in Robert Mussey, The Furniture Masterworks of John and Thomas Seymour, entry 71, pages 276-7; Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Distinguished American and English Antiques , Catalog III , page 22.
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A VERY FINE AND RARE PAIR OF FEDERAL ARMCHAIRS Of the type associated with Elbert Anderson (1745-1813) New York Circa 1800 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Wood: White Pine, Cherry
FEDERAL INLAID MARBLE TOP TABLE New York Circa 1800 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Wood: White Pine
Height: 32 inches Width: 45 inches Depth: 17 1/2 inches
Height: 37 inches Width: 22 inches Depth: 18 inches
A very similar chair, now in the collection of The Albany Institute of History and Art appears in Greenlaw, “A New York Sideboard in the Colonial Williamsburg Collection: A Reattribution” The Magazine Antiques, May, 1987 , page 1160, figure 7. Another nearly identical pair of chairs descended in the Van Cortland and now reside in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York, see Miller, Furniture by New York Cabinetmakers, 1680-1860 , number 89. For a discussion of the inlay on these chairs and other New York forms please see Philip D. Zimmerman, “The Livingston Family’s Best New York Federal Furniture,” The Magazine Antiques, May, 1997, pages 716-723.
Provenance: Ginsburg & Levy, Inc., New York #25807; Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc.; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Cole, New York.
Reference: Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., Gallery Catalog IV , page 78.
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CLASSICAL SOFA TABLE Attributed to Duncan Phyfe (1770-1854) New York Circa 1820 Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Woods: Mahogany, Tulip Poplar, Cherry Height: 28 3/4 inches Width: 38 3/4 inches, 57 1/4 inches when open Depth: 26 inches
PAIR OF FEDERAL SIDE CHAIRS Boston Circa 1820 Possibly by Thomas Seymour working in the Isaac Vose and Son shop . The carving likely by Thomas Wightman Primary Wood: Mahogany Secondary Wood: Mahogany, Birch
Reference: Please see a sofa table with the identical base and stretcher in a photograph of the home of Isabel Bronson, daughter of Robert Donaldson, in Peter Kenny et al. Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker of New York , page 132, figure 167.
Height: 35 inches Width: 19 1/2 inches Depth: 18 inches
For a similar armchair to this set see Stuart Feld, Boston in the Age of Neo Classicism , entry 6, page 27.
For a discussion of the Isaac Vose and Son shop as well as other similar chairs please see Mussey and Pearce, Rather Elegant Than Showy; The Classical Furniture of Isaac Vose , pages 260-270. 28
917-841-3824 • Frank@Levygalleries.com Levygalleries.com
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