IMPORTANT BLACK-PAINTED WHITE PINE FILIGREE HANGING WALL SCONCE, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1730

According to family tradition, this sconce was discovered under the eaves at Elmwood in Cambridge, Massachusetts (see Esther Lowell Cunningham, Three Houses: A Narrative, (Massachusetts: Thomas Todd, 1955);
Louise Crowninsheild (descendant);
Ms. Crowninsheild was great aunt of previous owner either, Alfred C. Harrison, Jr., Henry duPont Harrison, Pauline Louise Lord or Alison Louise Harrison. The other side of previous owner's family was the Lowells, Levi Lincoln, Governor of Massachusetts;
Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, March 5, 2000, lot 606;
Stephen and Carol Huber, Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

Bob Jackman, "Filigree Sconces Top $4.3," Antiques and The Arts Weekly, May 5, 2000, p. 40;
David Hewett, "March Madness in Manchester," Maine Antique Digest, May 2000, p. 1-C.

Glass with horizontal crack at top, filigree 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 remarkable sconce is one of only approximately twenty five that survive today and it relates directly to a celebrated pair of sconces made by Eunice Deering of Kittery, Maine in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. 48.158.12 and .13). Another closely related sconce possibly made by Ann (Odiorne) Rindge of Portsmouth, New Hampshire is in the collection of Historic New England (acc. no. 1991.270) and is illustrated in Nina Fletcher Little, Little by Little: Six Decades of Collecting American Decorative Arts (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1984), p. 28, fig. 36. Four other double arch filigree sconces are known. One at Colonial Williamsburg (acc. no. 1961.84) (Edith Gaines, "Collectors' notes," The Magazine Antiques, October 1962, p. 411), a pair in the collection of the Wooster Art Museum (acc. nos. 1938.75 and 1938.76) and the last owned by Mrs. W.G. Wendell (Edith Gaines, "Collectors' Notes," The Magazine Antiques [February 1970], p. 272).

Quillwork (or filigree work) was composed of different units of rolled or twisted colored papers that were pasted by an edge to a wooden backing and arranged in varying designs that often utilized metal, wire, beads, feathers, shells, waxwork, silk threads, and a profusion of mica flakes to make the composition sparkle when seen by candlelight. The sconces were glazed and mounted within shadow-box frames, and many were provided with wooden sockets at the base to support a silver candle arm for after-dark illumination. This sconce was never fitted with a candle arm. To date the most thorough analysis of the form was by Edith Gaines in her article “Quillwork: American Paper filigree,” The Magazine Antiques (December 1960), pp. 562-5.