In my opinion, Neal Auction is being a bit conservative in their attribution on this chair. I'm always very appreciative of Neal's condition information and research that they provide with their listing and I feel they are consistently careful not to go out on a limb on attributing a maker unless they have a good case. I learn a lot from their catalogs which provide additional historical background on pieces that you will not necessarily get within their online listings.
In the case above with the Modern Gothic chair, Neal Auction has attributed it to Kimbel & Cabus. Judging by the image of the chair to the left from
K&C's 1875-ish catalog that the Smithsonian has, Neal has more than an attribution case. I would say the chair is absolutely made by Kimbel & Cabus save for one concern: the incising on the sides above and below the seat appear to be missing on the Neal chair. Hard to be sure from one distant image. If it is indeed missing, it is likely a design variation for K&C. Even the stretcher has a small notch in the center of both examples. More at the
listing for the chair.
Neal has a good sale coming up in 8 days and I'll profile more items in the days coming. In the meantime, here's a link to peruse the
full online catalog.
Everyone have a great weekend!
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