Moorish fretwork furniture

Magazine Antiques, May, 2005 by Paul Tucker

The attribution of Ransom and Merklen pieces is complicated by the fact that neither marked their work. The Merklens had no catalogue, relying exclusively on their traveling salesmen. Some of the Merklens' furniture can be found alongside Ransom's Moorish fretwork in the catalogues of some of the larger furniture retailers, such as the one issued by Paine's Furniture Company of Boston about 1890. George Mertz's Sons of Port Chester, New York, made some of Ransom's spiral moldings into the early twentieth century, (12) but this kind of interlaced work, so fitting for the orientalism of the late Victorian period, had no place in the decorative arts of the new century.

The author is cataloguing existing examples of Moorish fretwork and would welcome any information readers might contribute. His e-mail address is pktucker@adelphia.net.

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(1) Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901) had several pieces of spiral-turned furniture in her sitting room at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight (illustrated in James Norbury. The World of Victoriana: Illustrating the Progress of Furniture and the Decorative Arts in Britain and America from 1837 to 1901 [Hamlyn, London, 1972], pp. 14-15, Fig. 9).

(2) J. Anderson, J. McClaren, and J. Bryant. Lathe for cutting fluted moldings, United States Patent 16,108, issued on November 25, 1856.

(3) For more about Hunzinger, see Barry R. Harwood. "The furniture of George Jacob Hunzinger," The Magazine ANTIOUES, vol. 52, no. 6 (December 1997), pp. 832-841.

(4) Clipping from Upholsterer and Interior Decorator, 1896.

(5) Ibid. shows a photograph of the umbrella stand surrounded by Moorish fretwork screens, which the author of the article says depicts an installation in one of the Wanamaker stores.

(6) American Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer, February 5, 1898.

(7) Cleveland Leader, July 14, 1875.

(8) American Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer, supplement of January 7, 1893, contains a history of the Merklen Brothers and their business.

(9) Ibid., August 20, 1887, gave the following report: "While looking over the new patterns, Mr. Valentine Merklen asked us if we would like to inspect the 'Merklen Electric Chair.' Of course we said yes, but half expected some electrical trick was about to be practiced upon us. Not so, however. A spiral arm chair has been fitted up with a neat receptacle, which is also ornamental, beneath the seat of the chair for holding the battery. Wires run up through the back post and through the left arm connecting with an electrical apparatus in the arm. On the end of each arm is a brass ball, the left-hand one being connected with the electric attachment. You seat yourself in the chair, grasp a ball in each hand, gradually draw out the one on the left, and a current of electricity immediately begins to go through the system. The current can be mild or strong at the will of the operator, as it is under his control. The chair has been designed perhaps more especially for physicians as they are now using electricity in their practice to a large extent. It will undoubtedly have a big sale when its merits are known. Some furniture dealers have already placed orders for it."