A Very Fine Pair of Chippendale Cast Brass and Wrought-Iron Diamond and Flame Andirons, probably New York, circa 1770

Leigh Keno American Antiques, New York

Dogs reduced in length.
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Serving a useful purpose, andirons were fashioned into highly decorative forms and frequently listed among the best household good. With their twisted flame and polyhedron finials, twisted baluster columns, and double spurred legs with ball and claw feet, these are representative of the best New York craftsmanship of the era. The skirt plinth, plain on most models, is unusually fanciful with a cyma curve flanked by triangular cuts. The uprights are composed of five parts: a skirt, plinth, square washer, column, and polyhedron with finial. The upper two sections are cast hollow in halves and seamed vertically, while the lower three sections are each cast hollow in one piece. The legs are solid cast. All parts are held in place on the front of the billet bar and the legs with a slender internal, wrought iron rod peened at both ends.

The square plinth, swirled baluster, and polyhedron-flame finial are seen on other exceptional examples of New York work such as a pair at Winterthur Museum and three others illustrated by Helen Schiffer, The Brass Book, 1978, p. 59, a and b.¹  A similar pair of andirons formerly in the Nicholson collection is attributed to Daniel King of Philadelphia.²

¹ For the Winterthur pair, see Donald L. Fennimore, Metalwork in Early America: Copper and Its Alloys from the Winterthur Collection, p. 134 and 138.
² Christie's, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson, January 27-8, 1995, sale 8082, lot 1078.