American Lowboys
A late 18th century dressing table, also called a "lowboy," came up for sale at a single owner estate auction held by Sotheby's, NY, January 16th, 1997. It was blessed with thin, graceful, "cabriole" curved legs terminating in "Queen Anne" pad feet. It was fitted with four drawers, including a lower central drawer decorated with a beautiful "carved fan." It's unique and desirable feature, however, was its magnificent contoured top, which, to the uninitiated, might have seemed too deep and wide for the case. Dealers and collectors attending the sale knew better. They understood that the cabinet-maker who crafted this lowboy purposely sized the top with an exaggerated "overhang" because he wanted to make a bold statement. When the hammer finally fell, the piece sold for $387,500-a record price for Connecticut dressing table. The successful bidder was a young and prominent New York antique dealer named Leigh Keno.
Lita Solis-Cohen, a reporter from the antique trade paper, Maine Antique Digest, wrote of the auction, "The sale will long be remembered as the one that put a Connecticut cherrywood "scalloped top" lowboy into the price level of elaborately carved Philadelphia lowboys."
"What's this about Connecticut vs. Philadelphia?" you ask. "Why does it make any difference where such a piece is made?" The difference lies in the distinguishing characteristics of the pieces from different regions, and how they've been marketed by dealers in the last century.
Much of the quality furniture crafted in America's major 18th and early 19th century cities: Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Portsmouth, Newport, and Charleston, was constructed out of imported mahogany-which was easily available at those large ports. These "city" pieces, made in the British or French tradition, were often sophisticated in design and heavy in ornament. Heavy pieces for heavy purses. For years, understandably, such pieces have commanded top prices when they are brought to market.
The record lowboy was not a "city" piece. It was a rural or country-made piece; one of about 30 known examples attributed to 18th century "cabinet-makers" (furniture-makers) from the Wethersfield area with a widely overhanging top. "Scalloped-top furniture" and similar whimsical designs are typical of many pieces that were made in the Connecticut River valley. "The Great River" as it was known in the old days, flows almost 450 miles from Canada almost due south along a line dividing Vermont and New Hampshire and bisecting Massachusetts and Connecticut, finally emptying into Long Island Sound.
People and artisanship alike were connected by the transportation artery. Connecticut River valley furniture was usually fashioned out of native woods like cherry, maple or birch, not mahogany. It's craftsmen, removed somewhat from the strong European influence felt in port cities, were free to express themselves in their work. They had left pomp, class, and gild system of Europe and come to enjoy a simpler way of life. In a way, their life and attitudes were reflected in their furniture. The best examples of Connecticut River valley furniture, and other smaller town craftsman, is, to my eye, the pinnacle of American design.