This parlor table is very similar to a table in the “Styles of American Furniture” book on page 67.  There appears to be differences in the inlay wood choices resulting in a rosier (Rosewood) color to this table.  The incising patterns on the lower section vary between them, as does the number of undulations on the paw feet. The contrasting Rosewood drawer looked out of place surrounded by ebonized wood, but in comparing it to the table in the book, I confirmed that to be intentional.  Even with the variations between the two, I would still not hesitate to state that the two tables were made by the same maker, which the seller, DuMouchelles, is attributing to be Pottier & Stymus.

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Neal Auction will be selling the above Aesthetic sofa in the remaining day of the Louisiana Purchase sale today.  It is being attributed to Charles Tisch who was a cabinetmaker in New York starting in 1870, categorized himself as a “designer and maker of furniture” in 1886, and an “art dealer” in 1889.

1889 Charles Tisch Gift To The Met

Tisch gave one of his cabinets to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1889, stating in an accompanying letter that it:

Received the first prize at the New Orleans Exposition (18)84/85. It is a purely American production of my own Manufacture and consider it worthy of a place in the Museum

Fast forward 40 years - In an article  from the Magazine Antiques in January, 2000, there is a 1929 quote about Tisch’s cabinet by Joseph Breck, who was the curator of decorative arts for the Met at the time:

“I think I may safely say that [the cabinet] is a piece we will never want to exhibit.” [6] Despite another attempt to deaccession it in 1941, the cabinet remained in the collection until 1950, ostensibly because the museum was unable to trace Tisch or his descendants. In 1950 it was deaccessioned and put into off-site storage, but fortunately in 1957 James J. Rorimer (1905-1966), then the museum’s director, returned it to the American Wing, and in 1969 it was reaccessioned. [7]

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I happened to be perusing an old article from May ‘99 in The Magazine Antiques and noticed that this table at Neal Auction, attributed to Berkey & Gay, is actually in a photo from an 1870 catalog photograph. This table was done by Kilian Brothers and if you happen to have the article, look at figure 2.

I don’t know if others feel this way but I’ve been lamenting for about a year or more about the disappearance of nice parlor tables in the market. It seems that prior to that, I could find nice tables at my local auction and shops that I frequent, but the “good ones” have disappeared and tend to only be appearing in the major auctions.

The table above will get sold today as lot “0140″ and more pictures and details can be found here. You can read a little bit more about Kilian Brothers in an old post here.

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