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Lot Essay
The extensive lush carving, basket motif and star-punched ground of this pair of bellows are characteristic of Samuel McIntire (1757-1811) and it is virtually identical to a pair of bellows attributed to him, now in the collection of Winterthur Museum (fig. 1.), illustrated in Charles F. Montgomery, American Furniture, The Federal Period (New York, 1966), pp. 429-430, cat. no. 429. It also relates closely to a pair of bellows with similarly executed carving that was sold Christie's New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson, January 27-28, 1995, lot 1143.
In 1807, Samuel McIntire billed the cabinetmaker Jacob Sanderson $4 for "Carving Bellows top." At the same time, McIntire charged $3 for reeding and carving four legs for a worktable and seventy-five cents for carving a pair of arms; when viewed in comparison to the cost he charged for these other carving jobs, McIntire appears to have spent considerable time and effort carving bellows tops.
Other comparable examples exist in very small number. A pair of bellows attributed to McIntire and once owned by John Winship (1754-1822), who fought at the Battle of Lexington and later moved to Salem, was purchased from a descendant by Israel Sack and is illustrated in Israel Sack, American Antiques in the Israel Sack Collection, vol. 4, p. 1037, ill. no. P3844. Another pair of bellows in the collection at Winterthur Museum may be the work of McIntire or his son, Samuel Field McIntire, who, in 1815, advertised the carving of "bellows tops" after his father's death (see Montgomery, p. 429, no. 430).
Fiske Kimball makes reference to these bellows in a letter to Mrs. Blair, dated October 30, 1934; at the time, he had published several articles on the furniture of McIntire (see The Magazine Antiques (November, 1930 - March, 1931) and was working on his article on Samuel Field McIntire that would appear in The Magazine Antiques (February 1933), pp. 56-58.
In 1807, Samuel McIntire billed the cabinetmaker Jacob Sanderson $4 for "Carving Bellows top." At the same time, McIntire charged $3 for reeding and carving four legs for a worktable and seventy-five cents for carving a pair of arms; when viewed in comparison to the cost he charged for these other carving jobs, McIntire appears to have spent considerable time and effort carving bellows tops.
Other comparable examples exist in very small number. A pair of bellows attributed to McIntire and once owned by John Winship (1754-1822), who fought at the Battle of Lexington and later moved to Salem, was purchased from a descendant by Israel Sack and is illustrated in Israel Sack, American Antiques in the Israel Sack Collection, vol. 4, p. 1037, ill. no. P3844. Another pair of bellows in the collection at Winterthur Museum may be the work of McIntire or his son, Samuel Field McIntire, who, in 1815, advertised the carving of "bellows tops" after his father's death (see Montgomery, p. 429, no. 430).
Fiske Kimball makes reference to these bellows in a letter to Mrs. Blair, dated October 30, 1934; at the time, he had published several articles on the furniture of McIntire (see The Magazine Antiques (November, 1930 - March, 1931) and was working on his article on Samuel Field McIntire that would appear in The Magazine Antiques (February 1933), pp. 56-58.