ATTRIBUTED TO HERTER BROTHERS (W. 1864-1906), NEW YORK, CIRCA 1880

Details

AN AMERICAN AESTHETIC MOVEMENT BRASS-INLAID EBONY AND EBONISED SIDE CABINET
ATTRIBUTED TO HERTER BROTHERS (W. 1864-1906), NEW YORK, CIRCA 1880
The rounded rectangular top above a frieze drawer inset with two Japanese mixed-metal plaques and hung with crescent-shaped handles, flanked to each side by a short drawer inlaid with brass circular and crescent motifs above a central recess fitted with two adjustable shelves between an arched recess to each side fitted with single shelf, framed by carved pilasters inset with vertical Japanese panels above a brass-inlaid garland of suspended droplets, the sides with rounded corner doors mounted with Japanese escutcheons decorated with floral motifs, each enclosing an adjustable shelf, the apron with three frieze drawers, raised on stepped block feet, the reverse marked '71/5718' in black and '147' in white chalk, further twice inscribed 'No.1'
45 ¼ in. (115 cm.) high; 95 ¾ in. (243 cm.) wide; 15 in. (38 cm.) deep

Literature

C. Gere & M. Whiteway, Nineteenth Century Design from Pugin to Mackintosh, London, 1993, p. 181, pl.226 (detail, illustrated).

Special notice

Specified lots are being stored at Crozier Park Royal (details below) or will be removed from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London, SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. If the lot has been transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day following the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Adrian Hume-Sayer Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

Known for their finely-executed furniture in various eclectic and historical styles, half-brothers Gustav and Christian Herter of the New York firm Herter Brothers produced highly-prized unique works and interiors for America’s newly established elite class of industrialists and financiers. The firm was strongly influenced by Japanese art and motifs and the bronze inset plaques to the present lot closely recall the Japanese-inspired marquetry panels seen in a stamped and similarly rectilinear-form cabinet by Herter Brothers, now in the collection of the MFA Boston (inv. no. 2000.3). Illustrating an amalgamation of styles, the brass-inlaid swag and droplet motif seen here are reminiscent of the carved ribbon and jewelled garland decoration prominently showcased on the pedestals for the drawing room the William H. Vanderbilt House, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 2002.298.2).

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