IMPORTANT PATTY REED CHIPPENDALE CARVED AND FIGURED MAHOGANY AND NEEDLEWORK FIRESCREEN, SCREEN, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1788

Inscribed Patty Reed. Appears to retain its original surface.

Polly "Patty" Hutchens (1770-1857) married in 1788 Captain Thomas Reed;
Thomas Reed (1793-1861), (son) m. Mary L.W. Bowlend
Josephine Reed (1839-1910), (daughter) m. Joseph M Poland;
Mary Reed Poland (b. 1874), (daughter) m.  Robert Cushman;
Josephine Cushman Beach, (daughter);
Israel Sack, Inc., New York;
Lansdell Christie, Muttontown, New York;
Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, The Lansdell K. Christie Collection of Notable American Furniture, October 21, 1972, sale 3422, lot 74;
Israel Sack, Inc., New York.

New York, NY, Israel Sack Inc., Signed, Labelled and Historic Americana at Our Gallery, January 18-February 3, 1996.

Israel Sack Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Vol. 4, (Washington: Highland House Publishers Inc., 1974), p. 970, P 1010.

With losses and tears throughout firescreen needlework, finial may be replaced. Image of screen before restoration available from department.
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.

As written by Rev. George B. Spaulding, “My great-grandfather, Hezekiah Hutchens, and his wife, Anna Merrill, daughter of Deacon John Merrill, of Newbury, Mass., came to Hampstead about ten years after the organization of the church. Captain Hutchens, when a boy of seventeen years, was a soldier at the capture of Louisburg, June 17, 1745. He won his title of captain by active service in every Indian war from that date to the breaking out of the war of the Revolution.  

Here, on the ground before the old church building, he mustered the largest company of soldiers that took part in the great battle at Bunker Hill on June 17th, and as captain of a New Hampshire company he was present at the not less famous battle which ended in the surrender of Burgoyne.

Here in the old homestead, still known as the "Hutchens Tavern," was born my grandmother Patty, whose name as "Polly Hutchens" stands in the baptismal list of the church. I remember her as "grandma" all through my childhood years in her home in Montpelier, Vt. Her virtues of wisdom and large-hearted charity and clear-eyed faith were admired by a large circle of old people, but better to us younger ones were her virtues of constant cheerfulness and sweet laughter and ever-brooding love.

It is a supreme grace of heaven which makes old age lovable to children.  

Here in the old church, or more probably in the old tavern, Thomas Reed of Uxbridge, Mass., made this “Polly” his wife. On the hillside now owned by Mr. Tristram Little they made their home. Here my mother was born a century ago. Here she began a growth which matured into a remarkable beauty of person and mingled sweetness and strength of character, and lofty ambition and faith which children and children's children recall with constant praise.  

Before my grandfather, Thomas Reed, went from Hampstead to live at Montpelier, he performed a service for the old church which in my visits here, I regard with utmost pleasure and pride.  

He was a carpenter and cabinet worker, and he it was who designed and built the porch and the graceful steeple of the meeting house, — the town hall of to-day.  

Pardon me, if in my appreciation of my grandfather's work during his brief sojourn here in Hampstead, I look at this structure of his hands as a monument to his worthy memory, and breathe the prayer that by your preserving care and that of heaven, it may endure in its integrity and beauty through coming generations.”

Harriette Eliza Noyes, A Memorial of Hampstead, New Hampshire, Vol II, Congregational Church 1752-1902, (Boston, MA: George B. Reed, 1908), pp. 278-80.