Classical furniture in Savannah, Georgia

Magazine Antiques, May, 1995 by Page Talbott

17 Dictionary of Georgia Biography, ed. Kenneth Coleman and Charles Stephen Gurr (Athens, 1983), vol. 2, p. 763.

18 The unusually tall Olmstead bookcase is related to an English example in the collection of the earl of Lucan (illustrated in Antique Dealer and Collector's Guide, March 1989), and to a neoclassical German desk-and-bookcase sold at Sotheby's (New York) on September 26, 1992, Lot 378.

19 See ANTIQUES, May 1987, p. 1111, Fig. 6.

20 See Johnson, "John Hewitt," p. 192, n. 21.

21 Coastwise Inward Cargo Manifests, box 15.

22 Savannah Museum, January 4, 1822.

23 The Bennett sofas are illustrated in Samuel and Narcissa Chamberlain, Southern Interiors of Charleston, South Carolina (New York, 1956), p. 35.

24 P. 239, Pl. 21.

25 See, for example, a center table made between 1825 and 1830 by Quervelle, now in the Baltimore Museum of Art (illustrated in William Voss Elder III and Jayne E. Stokes, American Furniture, 1680-1880, From the Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art [Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, 1987], pp. 174-175, No. 135); a card table made c. 1830 by Bouvier, now in a private collection (illustrated in ANTIQUES, April 1973, p. 760); and a worktable made by Joseph Beale, now in the Andalusia Foundation in Andalusa, Pennsylvania (illustrated in ibid., May 1994, p. 750, Pl. V).

26 The connection between the Cook table and the English design sources is described in Coleman, Nostrums, pp. 65-67.

27 After the partnership was dissolved, Cook worked on his own until 1837 and Parkins until 1840. Ducoff-Barone lists other shipments from Cook and Parkins to Savannah in 1823, 1824, 1828, and 1830 (ANTIQUES, May 1994, p. 746). A sideboard by the firm, based on Pl. 11 in Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration... (London, 1807), is illustrated in Wendy A. Cooper, Classical Taste in America 1800-1840 (Baltimore Museum of Art, 1993), p. 56.

28 Letter dated August 17, 1831 (Georgia Historical Society), quoted in "The Kollock Papers," Georgia Historical Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1 (March 1947), pp. 64-65. In regard to the sofa Phineas Kollock wrote: "I am very much surprised at the information you give me concerning the so far - Aunt Harriet did not give more that $50.00 for both of hers exclusive of the cushions, & I cannot imagine how these last can cost more than $15.00 or $20.00 - If you cannot however, procure a Sofa of the description I mention (which I do not think Cook could have understood) I will thank you to endeavour to procure one of any cheaper pattern which Aunt Jones may like - If it will not be giving Aunt too much trouble, I wish you would consult her in regard to every thing which you purchase inasmuch as the people with whom you have to deal will be very apt to impose upon one whom they think not much experienced in such matters. In regard to the Sofa, if you cannot do better, I should like a Lounge like those which Aunt used to have in her rooms, which I should suppose were not quite as expensive - Whatever you get, desire the man to keep a particular description of it, as I may at some future period desire to get a match for it - If possible I do not wish the Sofa & cushions to cost more than $50.00."