A Very Rare Federal Ornately Inlaid and Carved Cherrywood, Mahogany, and Maple Serpentine-Front Sideboard, Attributed to Nathan Lombard, Sutton, Massachusetts circa 1795

the tag on underside reads: Owned by Mrs. A.H. Bradley-The Misses Plimpton.

Linus Bacon Plimpton (b. 1829) of Southridge, Massachusetts and later Hartford, Connecticut. He married Clara Hibbard of Coventry, Connecticut in 1861 and was owner of a printing company in Hartford known as the Prescott, Plimpton & Co. (1865-66), L.B. Plimpton & Co. (1866-1873) and Plimpton Manufacturing Co. Inc. (1873-);

L.B. Plimpton Estate;

John Walton Inc., 1968;
Craig and Tarlton, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina, 1970

Hartford, Connecticut. Three Centuries of Connecticut Furniture, 1635-1935: An Exhibition at the Morgan Memorial, Hartford, as a Part of the Celebration of the Tercentenary of Connecticut, June 15-October 15, 1935;

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

Nutting, Wallace. Furniture Treasury. Volume I, no. 749 as the property of the L. B. Plimpton Estate;

The Magazine Antiques (September 1962): 200. John Walton advertisement;

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. 100-101

Secondary woods are white pine and chestnut, refinished, hardware is replaced, top has been re-set, later glue blocks added underneath top to secure cracks, locks have been replaced, both sides with a 12 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch filler strip added, various patches throughout to veneer.
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.

An exuberant New England interpretation of the Federal style, this sideboard epitomizes the height of workmanship in rural Massachusetts. Few other comparable American sideboards are known with a shaped form and inlaid decoration of this exceptional quality.

Similar flamboyant inlaid decoration and construction practice is found in the work of Nathan Lombard (1777-1847), a cabinetmaker working in the Sutton area of Massachusetts. Born in 1777 in Brimfield, this highly skilled and creative craftsman may have apprenticed to a local cabinetmaker before establishing a business in 1798 in Brimfield.¹   As exhibited on a chest of drawers with his signature, this sideboard displays a serpentine façade, thick cherry veneer, chevron stringing, drawers with cherry cockbeading, and a narrow strip of cherry attached to the back edge of the case top.²  Similar strips occur on many examples of Lombard's work.³  This sideboard also was constructed in a similar manner to the signed chest with a sub-top comprised of slats rather than a single board, which is attached to the finished cherry top with small glue blocks.  The drawers also appear to follow Lombard construction practice, although their dovetails have been concealed in the fine finishing of the piece.

Of the approximately forty pieces associated with Lombard's shop, eight are sideboards. One belonged to Ezra Allen (1773-1866), the cousin of Nathan Lombard's wife, Delight.⁴  The latter has a rectangular case with a projecting central section above bowed center doors flanked by convex panels and rectangular outer doors. The drawers and doors display chevron stringing and featherbanding while large inlays are prominently centered on the doors while paterae, icicles and husks adorn the legs. Two additional examples of the same form attributed to Lombard exhibit similarly conceived inlays incorporating shields and floral motifs, as well as the same wood choice and drawer detailing as the present sideboard.⁵  Another sideboard attributed to Lombard illustrated in The Magazine Antiques for April 1922 similarly displays a serpentine façade, a beaded strip attached to the back, and chevron stringing. It also features a comparable treatment of floral motifs and large fanciful pictorial inlays on the outside doors. Three other sideboards with similar characteristics associated with Lombard practice include one illustrated in Sack, Volume I, p. 51, one sold at Skinner, October 30-31, 1993, lot 313A, and one sold at American Art Association, New York, January 2-4, 1930, lot 431. Another that is a promised gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the only other example with tambour doors like those on the present sideboard.

¹ Brock Jobe and Clark Pearce, "Sophistication in Rural Massachusetts: the Inlaid Cherry Furniture of Nathan Lombard," American Furniture (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England for the Chipstone Foundation, 1998), p. 165.
² See ibid, fig. 5, p. 168.
³ See ibid, fig. 20, p. 175.
⁴ See ibid, fig. 37, p. 183.
⁵ See ibid, figs. 38-40, pp. 184-5.