Living with antiques: a Federal collection

Magazine Antiques, May, 2005 by Clark Pearce

In 1990 a young couple sold their loft in New York City and moved to the suburbs. They had decorated the loft with contemporary art and furnished it with modern design, but the new house called for something more traditional. Having decided that antiques would hold their value better than new or reproduction furniture--and that antiques would never go out of style--they started with a few simple pieces of Federal furniture and were surprised at how much they enjoyed them. Shortly thereafter, they decided to collect seriously. They delved into books and visited museums regularly to refine their taste, and then sought independent guidance to assess rarity, value, and authenticity as they built their collection. They quickly grasped the principles of connoisseurship in judging a piece of furniture--the importance of shape and proportion, balance of composition, success of vertical stance, quality of craftsmanship, and sophistication of carved or inlaid surface decoration. Woven into their thoughtful aesthetic is a love of American history and the way that objects tangibly connect them with our nation's past.

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This couple's collecting passion is for English-inspired neoclassical designs filtered through an American sensibility. Compared to other stylistic periods in American decorative arts, the pure neoclassical period was brief but exuberant. England had embraced neoclassicism in the 1760s and 1770s, but the American Revolution delayed the style's transmission to the United States until the mid-1780s. At that time, the resumption of trade, travel by Americans to England and Europe, and the immigration of English craftsmen infused the new American Federal style with a fully developed urban English sophistication. Many of the finest pieces in the collection are from the shop of John (1738-1818) and Thomas (1771-1849) Seymour in Boston and of Richard Lawson and John Bankson (w. together 1785-1792) in Baltimore, both of which produced designs that reflected their craftsmen's training in the newest and most elegant English styles. (1) The War of 1812 marked the beginning of the widespread acceptance of the later phase of neoclassicism, which was inspired by the French Empire and the English Regency. This collection leaves off just as those developments gained favor.

Geographically the collection focuses on coastal New England, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, all areas that experienced great prosperity and benefited from the work of immigrant craftsmen during the Federal period. The Seymours made New England's most refined Federal furniture, employing a masterful sense of balance, an extravagant attention to detail and craftsmanship, and a startling ability to compose beautiful abstract patterns using sharply contrasting woods, book-matched veneers, and complex patterned inlays. Nearby Salem, Massachusetts, produced a body of work that is another high point of Federal furniture, distinguished by meticulous craftsmanship, the use of carefully chosen mahogany veneers, and the subtle and restrained carving of Samuel McIntire (1757-1811). Federal Baltimore produced many stunning pieces with such a strong English "accent"--particularly in their proportions and massing--that they appear to have leapt off the pages of London design books. Bankson and Lawson made masterpieces of American furniture using this particular geometry and incredibly sophisticated and complex veneers and inlays.

As in urban houses of the Federal period, some of the accessories and luxury goods in the collection were made here, while others were originally imported from Europe or Asia. Several of the paintings, sculptures, and needlework pictures date from later periods but are consistent with the themes in the collection and speak to the power of the neoclassical impulse in many mediums throughout the nineteenth century. Historical accuracy guided the collectors' choices of fabrics and upholstery designs. They selected patterns, colors, and upholstery techniques using design books and paintings from the period and sought advice from upholstery scholars and conservators. To accommodate their casual lifestyle, they opted for durable period-appropriate fine wool, cotton, and linen fabrics. The results are attractive and surprisingly comfortable for modern living.

The cool grisaille tones of the first-floor entrance hall (Pl. III) set the stage for the restrained neoclassical aesthetic that defines the collection. One wall is covered with a French block-printed wallpaper panel entitled Psyche Bathing, one of twelve scenes making up the Psyche cycle by Joseph Dufour et Compagnie (founded 1804) of Paris, which was first exhibited at the Produits de l'Industrie Francaise exposition of 1819 in Paris. (2) The view of the entrance hall in Plate IV features a bowfront chest of drawers with thirteen flame-birch panels that is related to a small group of similarly elaborate examples from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. (3) The barometer above it is a great American rarity and one of the earliest examples of the form to be manufactured in this country. The dial is marked by T. Poole and Son, who are listed as scientific-instrument makers in the Boston city directory in 1825 and 1827. (4)