A bunch of John Henry Belter's simpler designs are coming up for auction from Flomaton and Thomaston. I've provided a quick pick list below. There are a few scroll pattern chairs and sofa, a pair of "Rosalie" chairs, and the chair on the top left I am not sure of the pattern. The keystone shape of the seat back is throwing me. It may be a variation on the "Henry Clay" pattern.
Charles Baudouine ran the biggest cabinet shop in New York, then walked away in 1856 to sell real estate. He rarely labeled anything, which is exactly why his rosewood keeps getting called Belter.
Not every deeply carved rosewood sofa is a Belter. Julius Dessoir's documented 1853 Crystal Palace suite at the Met is the yardstick — and the lamination test that separates carved-solid Rococo from Belter's laminated shell.
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