For those of you interested in the Rococo Revival furniture of Elijah Galusha, you may remember from this post that I had isolated a pattern that I had seen on several pieces at the Renssalaer Historical Society in Troy, NY – the appearance of “mirror-image” foliage in the edge gadrooning appeared on a sideboard and also in one of the Galusha parlor tables. So far, I haven’t seen other instances of cabinetmakers using that combination of gadrooning pattern and swirled foliage.
I was perusing Joan Bogart’s inventory and a couple of her pieces popped out to me as resembling Galusha work. Take the two table images above; the first being a table in Joan’s inventory and the second is a documented Galusha. Both have the signature pattern on the edge. The bottom table is slightly more crisply carved but not enough to dissuade me from an investigation as it may be due to a difference in clarity in the photography.
I’m wary to jump to conclusions and don’t want to fall into the trap that everything is a nail when you have a hammer. Because I have a few Galusha patterns identified, I don’t want to assume everything is a Galusha if I see them appear elsewhere. However, I can draw similarities from other elements on Joan’s table and other confirmed furniture – specifically in the areas of acanthus and volute carving and some of the leaves. Maybe some day I’ll make it to Joan’s shop and ask her permission to take some more detailed photos to make those comparisons a little more scientifically.
For now, I’m comfortable enough with what I see to attribute her table to Elijah Galusha.
As for other items in her inventory, I believe that I can make a strong case that this parlor set is also Galusha. Topic for a future post…
Meanwhile, here’s a full shot of the reference table residing in Troy, NY:
