Skinner Sets New World Record Price - A Federal Mahogany Gentleman's Secretary sells for $556,000
In Skinner’s June 9th auction of American Furniture and Decorative Arts, a federal mahogany and mahogany veneer inlaid glazed gentleman’s secretary from Salem, Mass., 1793-1811, sold for $556,000, setting a new world record price for a piece of American federal furniture sold at auction.
Federal Mahogany and Mahogany Veneer Inlaid Glazed Gentleman’s Secretary, Salem, Massachusetts, 1793-1811, with label affixed reading: “All Kinds of Cabinet Furniture Made and Warranted by Edmund Johnson Federal Street Salem,” the two-part piece has sweeping curves and four urn-turned finials on the cornice with a central inlaid rectangular piece to hold the brass eagle finial above the veneered frieze, and glazed doors with Chinese tracery which open to two adjustable shelves in the upper case; the lower case includes a butler’s central drawer which opens to small drawers, open compartments, and a lined writing surface; the flanking end drawers and cupboards are above square tapered inlaid legs, this piece, as with other Salem secretaries, is enlivened with geometric shapes of contrasting veneers, stringing bellflowers, and oval banding enclosed in rectangular panels, old replaced brass, old surface, (minor imperfections), ht. 93, wd. 67 1/4, case wd. 66 1/4, dp. 20 1/2, case dp. 19 3/4 in. Estimated $100,000-150,000
Literature: American Furniture: The Federal Period in the Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum by Charles F. Montgomery (Viking Press, New York, p. 223) depicts a remarkably similar example about which is written, “This piece is intended for a gentleman to write at, to keep his own accounts and serves as a library. The style of finishing is neat and sometimes approaching to elegance being at times made of satinwood... Of the dozen or more known examples, three, including this secretary, all with the label of Edmund Johnson, display the same form and concept of ornament.”
Provenance: Descended from Walter Wright.
Note: The label affixed to the backboard reads “By Edmund Johnson” who is well known as one of the Salem cabinetmakers who made similar gentleman’s secretaries between 1790 and 1810 using the oval motif framed within a rectangle and highly veneered surfaces. Many of these forms made by Nehemiah Adams, Mark Pittman, and others, were used as venture cargo and consequently have been found in Charleston, South Carolina, and Capetown, South Africa. About twelve pieces have been identified. Charles Montgomery of Winterthur is remembered as having said, “These pieces are among the most important forms made by Salem and nearby cabinetmakers.” This piece bears the label of the majority of Johnson’s identifiable work, according to American Cabinetmakers by William Ketchum with the Museum of American Folk Art (Crown Publishers, New York, 1995).
For more information on the Federal Mahogany and Mahogany Veneer Inlaid Glazed Gentleman’s Secretary, or to consign American Furniture and Decorative Arts, please contact Stephen Fletcher, Skinner’s director of American Furniture and Decorative Arts, at 978-779-6241, or via email at americana@skinnerinc.com.
