Grisaille-decorated pine box, probably New York, circa 1830

Found in Cazenovia, New York
Richard A. Bourne Co., Hyannis, Massachusetts
Daphne Farago, Providence, Rhode Island
Sotheby's New York, "American Folk Art and Furniture Formerly in the Collection of Daphne Farago Sold for the Benefit of the Rhode Island School of Design," February 2, 1991, lot 1288

"Four Rhode Island Collectors of American Folk Art: Eliza Greene Metcalf Radeke, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Maxim Karolik, and Daphne Farago," Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1985

Sanderson, Carol C. and Christopher P. Monkhouse, Americana from the Daphne Farago Collection, Providence: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1985, p. 32, back cover
American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 107, fig. 70

Small amount of wear on the edges; small loss on sides.
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.

Monochromatic decoration in a variety of mediums has a long history in New York State. The most important group of grisaille-painted furniture are the kasten, or cupboards, that were made in the colonial Dutch communities of the state. These were painted in blue-gray shades in imitation of bas-relief carving that might have adorned similar furniture in the Netherlands. The imagery was derived from printed sources and a tradition of architectural ornament that dates back to Roman times.¹

By the turn of the nineteenth century, the taste for monochromatic ornamentation was strongly tied to the classical vocabulary that infused the decorative arts. A group of needleworks associated primarily with the Albany area of New York interpreted this trend in a technique known as print work.² These embroideries, executed exclusively in black silk thread on white silk grounds, were intended to simulate uncolored engravings. The vogue for monochromatic work continued through the nineteenth century in theorem compositions executed in gray washes and, by midcentury, in shimmering charcoal drawings on a marble dust-covered support, known as sandpaper drawings. Throughout this period, architecture was often the inspiration for monochromatic representations.³

In this box, architectural imagery is combined with landscapes and seascapes. The box exhibits a combination of freehand and stenciled work in a gray wash over a yellow base coat. The top of the box is ornamented with a large three-part castle surrounded by trees with a seascape and sailing vessel behind. For the decorative panoramic friezes on the front and sides of the box, the artist repeated and recombined several stencils of buildings to create new sequences. -S.C.H.

¹ Blackburn and Piwonka, Remembrance of Patria. pp. 261, 265-68.
² Betty Ring. American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring (New York: E.P. Dutton in association with MAFA, 1987), pp. 93-95.
³ Shelley R. Langdale. "The Enchantment of the Magic Lake: The Origin and Iconographyof a Nineteenth-Century Sandpaper Drawing," Folk Art 23. no. 4 (winter 1998/99): 54. Romantic depictions of ruined castles continued to be a favored subject for sandpaper drawings, as they had been in watercolors in earlier decades. Langdale further cites a number of drawings found in the area of Chester, Vt., that depict identifiable buildings in Chester.