The tea table sat unused for decades in a dining room, just one of a number of pieces of traditional furniture in an old family house near Philadelphia. How it came to be featured in a forthcoming Americana sale at Christie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, estimated to sell for $2 million to $3 million, is a tale in itself.<\/p>\n
The previously unknown Philadelphia carved mahogany tilt-top tea table from about 1760 is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153very near the top,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Alan T. Miller, a Pennsylvania consultant to Americana collectors and an authority on the artisans of the pre-Revolutionary period.
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\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It makes your heart beat faster,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said John Hays, a longtime Americana expert at Christie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s who three years ago sold a Philadelphia tea table by the same carver from Stratford Hall Plantation in Virginia. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This table has the extra advantage of being more thoroughly carved than the Stratford table, and has the asset of retaining its original surface. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s over the top.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The deep carving on the scalloped edges of the table\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piecrust top and on the pedestal and base is attributed to the so-called Garvan carver. Because the identity of this 18th-century Philadelphia craftsman remains a mystery, historians have named him after a high chest in the Garvan collection at the Yale University Art Gallery.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s known for the boldness and vigor of his deep carving,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Hays said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Certain strokes, like the way he carves the end of a leaf to look like a first baseman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s glove, are uniquely, distinctly his.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Other telltale signs: the deeply carved convex molding on the canopy over the urn, the opposing C-scrolls with trefoils atop the knees, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rope\u00e2\u20ac\u009d encircling the baluster, the jewel-like cabochons or oval discs, the intaglio floral carving and the cluster of acanthus leaves that ends in a single, overturned leaf tip.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the 18th century you paid for each additional carved element: pad feet, knee carving, scalloped edges,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Hays said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like paying for extras when you buy a new car.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The table is a classic Rococo design, whether it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s open (when flipped up) or closed. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Philadelphia furniture is all about the synergy between carving and form,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Hays said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This design stands as the most successful of the renowned Philadelphia form.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Mr. Miller added: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153These tables are extremely sculptural. They give a feeling of dancing in space.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Though the top is both warped and cracked, the 29.5-inch-tall table retains its original (read: crusty, super-valuable) surface, probably because it has been in the same Philadelphia family for 250 years.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was made in Philadelphia and has always remained here; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s from my great-great-great-great-great grandparents,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said the consignor, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for her family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s privacy. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The table just sat there in the dining room, where we ate every single night. My parents didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use it even during dinner parties. I had no idea it was significant. We had a whole house full of traditional furniture.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Researchers at Christie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say the table was probably originally bought or commissioned in Philadelphia by a member of the Fisher, Fox, Pleasants or Wharton family, since it was passed down to William Wharton Fisher and his wife, Mary Pleasants Fox, in the early 1800s. A mahogany tea table is listed in the inventory of Fisher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ancestor, William Fisher, a member of the Quaker mercantile elite who was elected mayor of Philadelphia in 1773.<\/p>\n
In recent years the table has resided at the family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s house on the Main Line. When the consignor and her siblings went to sell the house and the table, they asked John Hook, chairman of the trusts and estates department at the Philadelphia law firm Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, to oversee the dispersion of its contents.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We divided the furnishings into three categories: what should be left in the house to stage it for the sale, what should go to storage and what should be sold as junk,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Hook said.<\/p>\n
He asked a man from a local auction house to look at the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153junk.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d By coincidence he arrived on the appointed day with an appraiser.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hook recalled: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want anyone slowing down the process, I got annoyed when the appraiser told me: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThis is a pretty revolutionary piecrust table. It could be worth as much as the real estate.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe house is worth three-quarters of a million dollars.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 He looked up and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcSo is this table.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 A chill went up my spine.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The appraiser didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even ask for the commission. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He told me, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcYou need to involve a national auction house,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Hook said.<\/p>\n
Events then moved quickly. After Mr. Hook contacted them, Sotheby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Christie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s immediately sent experts to see the table on different days of the same week. Mr. Hook told them the consignor would choose the auction house by the Saturday of that week.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When they told us how significant the table was, leaving it in the house seemed irresponsible,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the consignor said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hook added: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was too much of a liability. If the house had burned down, at that point we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have enough insurance to cover the value of the table. We wanted to get it out as soon as possible.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
That Friday evening, as he was about to have dinner with the consignor at the Merion Cricket Club, Mr. Hook learned she had chosen Christie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n
Then the phone rang, and it was Mr. Hays. He said that he and a Christie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s colleague, Martha Willoughby, were five minutes away, sitting in an Escalade limousine. The two joined Mr. Hook and the consigner at dinner to discuss the sale and then returned to the house. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153While John and I finished the terms of the agreement at the dining room table,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Hook said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they wrapped up the tea table. It had taken on a life of its own. They were taking care of it like a baby.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
By 10 p.m. the contracts were signed, ending in hours a process that could have taken weeks. The tea table was secured in the limousine, and the Christie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s team drove off. The table is now scheduled for the Oct. 3 Americana sale.<\/p>\n
The consignor is thoughtful about the table. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I would love to have heard some of the conversations that took place around this table in pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hays agreed: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was around tea tables like this where the elite met in the 1760s to discuss whether there was going to be a revolution. Just think about the decisions they were making.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
More Articles in Arts \u00c2\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The tea table sat unused for decades in a dining room, just one of a number of pieces of traditional furniture in an old family house near Philadelphia. How it came to be featured in a forthcoming Americana sale at Christie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, estimated to sell for $2 million to $3 million, is a tale in itself. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-furniture-indonesia-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}