The Important Francis P. Garvan Important Rococo Carved and Figured Walnut Scroll-Top High Chest of Drawers, the carving attributed to Nicholas Bernard, Philadelphia circa 1755-1760

Appears to retain a majority of its original hardware; retains its orginal cartouche and urn-and-flame finials.  Applied shell and lower laminate on front skirt are original.

Francis P. Garvan;

American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, Collection of Francis P. Garvan, 1931, pl. 396;

John S. Walton, 1968

New York, New York. Loan Exhibition of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Furniture and Glass for the Benefit of the National Council of Girl Scouts, Inc, September 25-October 9, 1929;

Charlottesville, Virginia. A Jeffersonian Ideal: Selections from the Dr. and Mrs. Henry C. Landon III Collection of American Fine and Decorative Arts. University of Virginia Art Museum. August 27-November 23, 2005

American Art Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Furniture and Glass for the Benefit of the National Council of Girl Scouts, Inc., New York, 1929, pl. 651;

Nutting, Wallace. Furniture Treasury. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1948. Volume I, pl. 369;

The Magazine Antiques (January 1968): John S. Walton advertisement;

The Magazine Antiques, "Living with Antiques in the South," (May 1975): pl. III and fig. 8;

Fama, Vicki, et al, A Jeffersonian Ideal: Selections from the Dr. and Mrs. Henry C. Landon III Collection of American Fine and Decorative Arts. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Art Museum, 2005, pp. 86-7;

Art and Antiques Magazine (March 2006): 95

Secondary wood is Yellow Pine; upper 4 inches of cartouch restored; base of finials and round tenon on side finials restored; proper left finial plinth wafer restored; drawer fronts are veneered; proper right drawer on second tier with a 4 1/2 in by 1 in trangular patch to lower inside corner; proper left lower corner of lowest drawer in upper case with a 1 in. by 1 in. chip to drawer face; proper left side waist molding is an early replacement; upper 1/8 inch of waist molding restored; lower most drawer in upper case with a eliptical 5 inch patch to veneer; central key brass replaced; minor losses to applied carving on lower case central shell carved drawer; back knee returns replaced; proper left front foot with side talon missing.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

A monumental statement of the Philadelphia Rococo aesthetic, this high chest of drawers displays exceptional carving attributed to Nicholas Bernard, an accomplished carver who was influenced and perhaps trained by Samuel Harding.  In emphasizing the control of line over the sculpting of mass, the carving of this chest is indicative of his work of the mid to late 1750s, when his designs and techniques were well integrated and skillfully articulated. The knee carving consisting of bilaterally symmetrical leaves separated by a V-shaped dart rendered with intaglio lunettes appears on seating furniture, other case furniture, and tables attributed to Bernard.¹  The feet are typical of his work from the 1750s in which the claw and ball occupy the full thickness of the stock and are articulated in scale with the leg without a rear knuckle.  Remarkably, this chest retains its original cartouche, which represents Bernard's most sculptural work and follows the pattern of those found on several other case pieces with carving attributed to him.²

Nicholas Bernard was executing carving of this pattern by November 15, 1753, the date inscribed on a high chest of drawers at Colonial Williamsburg with his carving and the signature of the Philadelphia cabinetmaker Henry Clifton.³ The latter has been identified as Nicholas Bernard's earliest dated work.⁴  Bernard apparently favored this pattern for he articulated it on a group of surviving Philadelphia casework, including a dressing table at Colonial Williamsburg made en suite with the aforementioned high chest, the Van Pelt dressing table that sold in these rooms, Important Americana, September 26, 2008, sale 8448, lot 9, a high chest illustrated by William M. Hornor in plate 182 of Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture as the property of Joseph Carson, Esq., a high chest with a history in the Biddle and Drinker families that sold at New Orleans Auction Galleries, March 29-30, 2008, lot 1122, a chest-on-chest in the collection of the Historical Society of Dauphin County in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a high chest and en suite dressing table in a private collection, and a dressing table with a history in the Biddle family that sold in these rooms, Fine Americana, January 28-31, 1994, sale 6527, lot 1280.⁵  A dressing table sold at Skinner, a high chest illustrated in The Old Furniture Book, and a dressing table at Mount Pleasant also exhibit carving of the same pattern that appears to be by the same hand.⁶

A dressing table made en suite with this high chest with carving attributed to Bernard survives in a private collection. It was formerly in the Garvan Collection and sold in 1931 at the American Art Association Anderson Galleries sale of Selections from the Collection of Francis P. Garvan, as lot 396. Like the present high chest, the dressing table was included in the Girl Scouts Loan exhibition of 1929 and illustrated by Wallace Nutting.⁷ It recently sold at Sotheby's, Important Americana, October 6, 2006, sale 8267, lot 369 as property from the collection of Josephine and Walter Buhl Ford II.

¹ See Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, "A Table's Tale: Craft, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," American Furniture, edited by Luke Beckerdite, (Hanover and London, 2004), figs. 18, 30, 31, pp. 11, 17, and 18.
² See ibid, fig. 27, p. 15.
³ See Morrison Heckscher and Leslie Greene Bowman, American Rococo, New York, 1992, fig. 47, p. 199.
⁴ See Beckerdite and Miller, note 6, p. 42.
⁵ See ibid, fig. 27, p. 15, and figs. 30-31, pp. 17-8.
⁶ Skinner, June 2005, sale 2295, lot 81 and N. Hudson Moore, The Old Furniture Book, New York, 1936, fig. 64, p. 138. The dressing table at Mount Pleasant is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
⁷ Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury, no. 369 and American Art Galleries, Girl Scouts Loan Exhibition, 1929, no. 651.