Federal Yellow Paint Decorated Pine Footstool, Probably New England or Pennsylvania, circa 1835

Marjorie Schorsch, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1978

"Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America," American Folk Art Museum and New-York Historical Society, 1980-1981
"Flowers in Folk Art," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York at Philip Morris, New York, 1984
"American Radiance: Highlights of the Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum," de Menil Gallery at Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts, October 15 - December 15, 2002
"Compass: Folk Art in Four Directions," New York, The South Street Seaport Museum, June 20-October 7, 2012

Brant, Sandra, and Elissa Cullman, Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America, New York: E.P. Dutton in association with American Folk Art Museum, 1980, p. 78
American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 116, fig. 80

Wear (minor) and tiny loss at edges, minor craquelure. Appears to be in excellent condition.
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.

This is one of a small group of miniature footstools painted a happy yellow color and closely related by construction, scale, and paint decoration.¹ Their diminutive size clearly marks them as furniture for children, but whether for play or function is not clear. The painted flowers, baskets of strawberries, and slender striping place the stool comfortably within the furniture conventions associated with Windsor chairs, which received similar decorative treatments from the 1820s through the 1840s. This is especially true of the striping that defines the fronts and sides and scalloped apron, recalling similar definition of side posts, plank seats, and arrow-back spindles on Windsor side chairs. The miniature stools traditionally have been attributed to the Landis Valley area of Pennsylvania. However, neither the construction nor the painted decoration can be tied to that region.² Floral designs, including baskets of flowers and fruit, often were painted on the crests of Windsor and fancy chairs of the period, both in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. In addition to furniture, these were common motifs in the decorative arts throughout the mid-Atlantic states, especially in female ornamental arts such as theorem painting, flower painting, flowering on tinware, and needlework.³Although yellow was a popular color on Pennsylvania Windsor chairs, it is also seen on country furniture throughout New England. -S.C.H.

¹ A related example is advertised by David A. Schorsch in Maine Antique Digest 15, no. 12 (December 1987): 5-C. The same piece is illustrated in the catalog for Sothebys's sale 6319 (6/92, lot 253); similar pieces are illustrated in the catalogs for Sotheby's sale 6482 (10/93, lot 40) and Christie's sale 7710 (6/93, lot 77).
² The example advertised by Schorsch is inscribed "E.K.," dated 1840, and described as from the Landis Valley. Another example has "Centre County" (Pa.) inscribed in pencil on the bottom. After recent visual examination, neither Jack L. Lindsey nor Pastor Frederick S. Weiser, contributors to this volume, feel that the stool is of Pennsylvania origin. According to Vernon Gunnion, former curator of the Landis Valley Farm Museum in Lancaster, it is not typical of Landis Valley or southeastern Pennsylvania (telephone conversation with the author, Aug. 18, 2000).
³ A schoolgirl illustration of a Winchester, Conn., interior in 1826 shows a set of children's furniture in the foreground that features a basket of flowers very similar in treatment to the decoration of this stool; see Schaffner and Klein, American Painted Furniture, p. 104.