Hirschl Adler Case Pieces and Storage Cabinets

Boston, Massachusetts Seven-drawer tall chest, circa 1825. Mahogany (secondary woods: mahogany, pine, and poplar) Measures: 45 5/8 in. high, 27 5/8 in. wide, 14 5/8 in. deep Inscribed (on six drawer locks): SECURE; (on seventh lock): CHUBB’S / PATENT / 57 St PAULS CHY / LONDON / CHUBB & SON / MAKERS TO / HER MAJESTY / 632284; (on one hinge): [BUR?] NE PATENT; (on master lock): 2 LEVER. Although some Boston furniture of the Neo-Classical period is elaborately decorated with ormolu mounts, brass moldings, and carved and gilded elements, other pieces are more simple and are said to reflect the “conservative” taste of many of Boston’s great families. The simplicity evident in these pieces is not an indication of a less-expensive line of furniture or a less-sophisticated patronage, but, like the so-called “Grecian Plain Style” of Duncan Phyfe’s furniture...

American, probably Boston or Salem, Massachusetts Miniature Serpentine Chest of Drawers, circa 1785-1800 Striped maple, ebony, and rosewood (secondary woods: mahogany), with brass dr...

Butler’s Desk and Etagére, circa 1825 New York, possibly by Duncan Phyfe Mahogany (secondary woods: mahogany, pine, poplar), with ormolu mounts, marble,...

FAPG 19959D/2 Gothic Revival armoire New York, about 1835-1840 Mahogany, with brass hardware Measure: 104 in. high, 73 in. wide, 30 in. deep Exhibited: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 2011–12, The World of Duncan Phyfe: The Arts of New York, 1800–1847, p. 89 no. 45 illus. 89 Ex coll.: Private collection (probably R. H. Selstadt, Big Stone Gap, Virginia) Although no specific pieces of Gothic furniture documented as by Duncan Phyfe have come to light, there is considerable evidence that he, like various of his contemporaries in New York, embraced the Gothic style. For example, the catalogue of the Halliday & Jenkins auction sale of the contents of Phyfe’s furniture ware rooms, which was held on site at 192 and 194 Fulton Street, New York, on April 16 and 17, 1847, included a “mahogany centre table Gothic gilt pillar and Egyptian marble top” (Halliday & Jenkins, p. 3 no. 63); “12 mahogany Gothic chairs...