piece was featured in the recent exhibition on Fletcher and Gardiner at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Winterthur, and in Classical Taste in America in Baltimore, Charlotte, and Houston.
Important Americana: Furniture, Folk Art and Carpets, 23 January, 10am Leading the Saturday morning session of Important Americana comprising Furniture, Folk Art and Carpets is The Important Ranlett-Rust Family Chippendale Figured Mahogany Bombé Slant-Front Desk, Probably by Francis Cook, Marblehead, Massachusetts, circa 1770 (est. $400,000/1 million). The desk is one of the rarest surviving examples of the esteemed bombé form; only twelve additional examples are known. The present
example has never before been offered on the market, and is among the most original of all known examples. Extensive research suggests the desk was made north of Boston, in Marblehead, Massachusetts and through careful comparison with extant signed pieces, the desk has been attributed to Francis Cook. Another highlight is the Captain Samuel Morris Pair of Queen Anne Carved and Figured Walnut Rounded-Stile Compass-Seat Side Chairs, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1745 (est. $200/500,000).
Standing as superior examples of the Philadelphia Queen Anne style, these side chairs display a unified sculptural design, extremely fine construction and high-quality carving rarely matched on other seating furniture in the era. The delicate legs are punctuated by carved claw-and-ball feet, a rare feature among Queen Anne seating furniture. An Important Chippendale Carved Mahogany Bedstead, Attributed to John Townsend, Newport, Rhode Island, circa 1770 (est.
$40/100,000) is one of only six known bedsteads with claw-and-ball feet to have been produced in Rhode Island. Also featured is An Important Federal Carved and Figured Mahogany Marble-Top Pier Table, attributed to Thomas Seymour with John Seymour, carving attributed to Thomas Wightman, circa 1805 (Est. $100/200,000). The table is among the most sophisticated, ambitious and elaborate pieces of American Furniture made in the Federal period. Only three other tables of similarly ambitious design are known. The present table retains its original finish and imported marble top and has remained in a private Pennsylvania collection since the 1960s.
Two Federal Paint-Decorated Klismos Side Chairs Attributed to John and Hugh Finlay, Baltimore, Maryland, circa 1809 (est. $35/75,000 each) represent the apex of Federal style, which emulated Greek and Roman design forms. The sale will also include a collection of rare eighteenth and nineteenth century American glass from the collection of the Rear Admiral Edward P. Moore and Barbara Bingham Moore. The collection includes examples of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and New England free blown, pattern molded and lacy glass. Just a few of the highlights include a Cobalt Blue Diamond-molded Covered Sugar Bowl,an Aquamarine Large Lily Pad Sugar Bowl, numerous pairs of New England Colored glass Vases and Fluid Lamps and a rare pillar-molded white and amethyst bar bottle from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Among the folk art highlights offered is a Fine and Rare Molded Copper Figure of an Indian with Bow and Arrow, Probably Harris & Co., Boston, circa 1880 (est. $100/200,000). The work was formerly in the esteemed collection of Dione Guffrey
