This koa and kou wood center table was made by William Fischer around 1869.  A very similar table was ordered at the time by Governer Dominis.  Dominis was an American-born statesman who became Prince Consort of the Kingdom of Hawai’i upon his marriage to the last reigning monarch, Queen Lili’uokalani.  Using kou wood was an unusual selection for inclusion in the table since “kou was rarely used in furniture, except as contrasting trim with koa, a combination Hawaiian royalty particularly favored.”

A minute ‘red spider’ infested the kou trees beginning around 1860 and within a year destroyed every kou tree in the islands.  The timber was cut and used for furniture, much of it sent to Germany.

The table above was owned by John Strayer McGrew, a physician who arrived in Hawaii in 1866.  “He was known for his hospitality and as “the Father of Annexation” because of his strong conviction that Hawaii should be come part of the United States.”

Research and image courtesy of the Daughters of Hawaii and from their book, Hawaiian Furniture And Hawaii’s Cabinetmakers.

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Continuing on with the topic of Hawaiian carved furniture comes two pieces made by F. N. Otremba.

Otremba was commissioned by the Hawaii Promotion Committee to carve a mantel for Mark Twain’s new home, “Stormfield” in 1908.  The job cost $300 and at the time was described as “one of the handsomest pieces of furniture ever made in the Islands”.  It was installed in the author’s billiard room on his 73rd birthday.  However, the home and mantel were later destroyed by fire.

A chair was also carved by Otremba for Twain but he had a choice between the mantel and the chair and selected the mantel.  The chair, pictured to the right, stayed in Hawaii, apparently with the Otremba family.

Research and image courtesy of the Daughters of Hawaii and from their book, Hawaiian Furniture And Hawaii’s Cabinetmakers.

You can see more original F. N. Otremba carved furniture in the Hawaiian home of Fayez Sanofim, a billionaire fund manager, here.

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There’s something about Kilian Brothers pieces that make them some of my favorites.  Their heavy mix of ebonization, polychrome paint (in some cases), heavy use of gilt-incising and Neo-Grec styling is very appealing to me and resulted in me adding one of their pieces to my collection a while back.

Thanks to a Rare Vic reader, John B., I was notified of this attributed Kilian Brothers table currently up for sale on Ebay.  I’ve also learned a new word from within the listing used to describe this piece of furniture  - architectonic.  I would agree based on it’s definition that a lot of Kilian pieces are “architectonic”.  First time I’ve heard that one.

Photo of the inlaid top below.  Listing ends on October 31st and the BIN price is $5,995 - or make an offer.  More at the listing.

Read more on Kilian Brothers.

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