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Sofia Suarez

I'm attracted to so-called early and Chippendale antique furniture from the US, but don't really know what that means. Can you offer some advice?

WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS

'The Chippendale style in the Americas falls roughly between 1770 and 1790, some 20 years behind the fashion in England,' says Wouter von Eldik of House of Jacobus Antiques in the US.

'Early American handcrafted furniture from the Pilgrim to the Federal period [1650 to 1830] was  for a long time mostly overlooked  or considered unfashionable. Americans looked mostly across the  Atlantic for style ideas, except for treasured family pieces such as slant top desks, sideboards, high boys and low boys, and dressing tables.'

As the colonies developed, furniture was initially imported, says von Eldik. Then, English  and Dutch craftsmen arrived in prosperous centres such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston and the Virginias.  'They brought the English styles, working tools and drawings to copy from.'

CHIP OFF THE BLOCK

'Chippendale covers the last half of the 18th century and is named after Thomas Chippendale  [1718-1779], a renowned English furniture-maker and designer.  It incorporates French Rococo, Gothic and Chinese. His book, The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director was most influential and much-used in the Americas,'  von Eldik says. His designs were widely copied along the east and mid-Atlantic coast. The Carolinas maintained close ties with England and continued importing furniture for  longer than other areas.

The Rococo, 'meaning rock and shell work', seen in The Director influenced American cabinetry. 'In chairs, the central splat in a ginger jar shape was now opened up, widened and made into various forms of foliation, bows and fret work. Pierced carving for decoration on chairs and on high boys instead of solid splats or scrolls became the Chippendale hallmark,' he says.

Relief carving became more detailed.  The sides of cabinets  or chests now had fluted canted  or cut corners, while shells or sunbursts were often carved in the top central short drawer.

Highly condensed Honduran or Santo Domingo mahogany was the preferred imported material, although cherry, local walnut and tiger maple remained in demand for country pieces, von Eldik says.

'Construction methods were primarily learnt from the English, Continental and Chinese techniques. After the Non Importation Agreement of 1765, other important new forms  that demonstrated regional affiliations included the Serpentine or bow front chest of drawers with ogee bracket feet  that were popular in Philadelphia and New York.'

Other names to look for include  Thomas Affleck (1740-1795) and carver John Pollard (1740-1787).  Few pieces were signed,  but signed Goddard Townsend or Affleck furniture exists - usually in museums or  wealthy private collectors.'

TIPS FOR NEW COLLECTORS

'Collectors in the true sense of Early American furniture didn't appear until the early 19th century. Great industrial wealth travelled to Europe and the East and an ascending sense of national pride and curiosity in  the nation's history produced a newly well-to-do middle class of collectors in the 1950s and 1960s, and again in the 1980s and 1990s.'

Aside from Elizabethan-style Pilgrim furniture found mostly  in the northeast, few examples survived. 'Now and then, a dower chest, a chair, or a chest of drawers appeared on the market. Most  are in museums  and are highly sought after. The best examples such as the Brown family secretary bookcase have fetched well over US$1 million  at auction. Chests or lowboys of this quality  cost anywhere from US$50,000.'

Von Eldik advises looking  at  quality, workmanship and authenticity. 'Buy the best,' he says. 'Buy one good thing, instead of a basket of so-so things.'

RESOURCES

Maine Antique Digest (www.maineantiquedigest.com);

The Magazine Antiques (www.magazineantiques.com); www.artfact.com;

House of Jacobus Antiques:  3449 Ivy Rd, Charlottesville, Virginia, US, tel: (1 434) 977 0024, or go to www.houseofjacobus antiques.com

Send questions about collectables to sofiasuarez@yahoo.com



Early American