The Van Pelt-Robb Family Important Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Dressing Table, attributed to Henry Clifton and Thomas Carteret, carving by Nicholas Bernard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania circa 1760

Appears to retain its original surface and rare pierced brass hardware; molding beneath top missing; lacking proper right and left side knee returns.

Likely originally owned by William Turner (1737-1813), who married Mary King (1739-1770), of Philadelphia;
Thence by descent through one of their children to their granddaughter, Abby Ann King Turner (b. 1806), who married Rev. Peter Van Pelt, Jr. (1795-1873) of Philadelphia;
To her son, Charles Edward Van Pelt (1846-1927), who married Ellen Hughes (1862-1938) in 1872, of Philadelphia;
At his death to his wife, who owned it when it was published in the Blue Book of Philadelphia Furniture;
To her eldest child, Mary Van Pelt, who sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Robb of Buffalo, New York in 1951.

Hornor, William M., Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture, (Washington, D.C.: Highland House Publishers, 1977), pl. 183 as the property of Mrs. Charles E. Van Pelt

The top has been further secured with four screws that are plugged on the top surface; the proper left and right side with patches at junction with top at location of screws, which are coming through the top; slight wear to knuckles on feet; secondary wood is yellow pine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Representing a distinctly American 18^th century case form, this dressing table stands as a sumptuous example of the fully developed Rococo aesthetic associated with the colonial craftsmen and artisans of Philadelphia. With its magnificent carving, accomplished design, and pierced brasses, it exudes the refined hallmarks of the best casework made in that city in the mid-18th century. It was likely originally owned by William Turner (1737-1813) and Mary King Turner (1739-1770) of Philadelphia, who married in circa 1760, and descended in the Van Pelt lines of their family until 1951, when their great-great-granddaughter, Mary, sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Walter Robb of Buffalo, New York. William M. Hornor prominently features this impressive dressing table in pl. 183 of Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture as "Following the typical Philadelphia-Chippendale Pattern, but more carefully executed than most." A high chest with many identical construction and decorative details perhaps made as its mate, representing the work of the same shop and carver, is illustrated in Hornor, pl. 182 as the property of Joseph Carson, Esq.

This dressing table bears additional significance as one of a small group of Philadelphia case pieces that can be assuredly linked with a specific carver and cabinet shop. Its masterful naturalistic carving can be attributed to the hand of the talented artisan, Nicholas Bernard. Dating to circa 1760, this dressing table appears to have executed by Bernard in his mature working style, in which his designs and techniques were well integrated and his carving at its most skillful. He took extraordinary care in executing the carving on the shell drawer of this dressing table, in particular, by using an extremely fine veining tool to delineate the flutes and finishing them with rows of punch marks alternating with rows of dots and gouge marks. The knees of the dressing table display carving comprised of bilaterally symmetrical leaves separated by a V-shaped dart articulated beneath a flowerhead. Similar knee carving appears on other case furniture and chairs attributed to Bernard.¹

Nicholas Bernard was apparently contracted for his work by the partnership of Henry Clifton and Thomas Carteret, two Quaker cabinetmakers who were members of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. The attribution for this dressing table to this collaboration is based upon a remarkably similar high chest of drawers at Colonial Williamsburg signed "Henry Cliffton/Thomas Carteret" and dated November 15, 1753.²  The latter exhibits carving that has been identified as Bernard's earliest dated work.³  Both case pieces incorporate related case form shapes and nearly identical carved decoration executed from the same tools, from their shell drawers, to their skirt profile centering a shell pendant, knees, and claw feet. They also display the similar construction techniques of finely cut dovetails and mortise-and-tenon joints, as well as dustboards under the bottom drawers supported by small strips of wood attached to the sides of the case and partitions separating the drawers. Both also exhibit drawers with similar construction markings, with each inside corner of the drawers numbered on both facings in chalk in the same place and by the same hand.  They conform in nearly every detail and clearly represent the same cabinet shop and carver.  A dressing table at Colonial Williamsburg made en suite with the signed high chest of drawers also stems from the same craftsmen.⁴

The same distinctive shell drawer and knee carving by Nicholas Bernard is also exhibited on a dressing table with a history in the Biddle family that sold in these rooms, Fine Americana, January 28-31, 1994, sale 6527, lot 1280 as well as on a chest-on-chest in the collection of the Historical Society of Dauphin County and a high chest of drawers and companion dressing table in a private collection that sold in these rooms, Highly Important Americana from the Collection of Stanley Paul Sax, January 16-7, 1998, sale 7087, lot 522.⁵ A high chest of drawers in a private collection, with the same case construction though carving by a different hand, is also attributed to the Clifton-Carteret shop.⁶ The latter descended in the Marshall family of Philadelphia from Benjamin Marshall (d. 1778), a Quaker merchant. Other case pieces appearing to represent the Clifton-Carteret collaboration with carving by Nicholas Bernard include a high chest with a history in the Biddle and Drinker families that sold at New Orleans Auction Galleries, March 29-30, 2008, lot 1122, a dressing table that sold at Skinner, June 2005, sale 2295, lot 81, a high chest illustrated in The Old Furniture Book by N. Hudson Moore, and a dressing table at Mount Pleasant from the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.⁷

Reflecting a separate shop tradition, a Philadelphia high chest at Winterthur Museum (acc. 58.592) was also originally owned by William and Mary Turner and descended by marriage in the same lines of the Van Pelt family.⁸  Family tradition notes that the chest descended to William and Mary King's unmarried daughter, Sarah, who left it to her niece, Abby Ann King Turner Van Pelt. It descended next to her son, Charles Edward Van Pelt, who sold it at the Reifsnyder sale in 1921.

With its skillfully carved elements and exceptional casework associated with Nicholas Bernard and the Clifton-Carteret shop, this dressing table is an important survival of Philadelphia Rococo craftsmanship from this historically significant era in American history. It remained in the family of its original owners for 190 years and has been part of the Robb Collection over half a century. It has never been offered for public sale until the present time. This sale represents a unique opportunity to acquire one of the finest Philadelphia dressing tables ever to come on the marketplace.

¹ See Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, "A Table's Tale: Craft, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," American Furniture, edited by Luke Beckerdite, (Hanover and London, 2004), figs. 19 and 31, pp. 12 and 18.
² See Morrison Heckscher and Leslie Greene Bowman, American Rococo, 1750-1775, New York, 1992, fig. 47, p. 199.
³ Beckerdite and Miller, p. 10, note 6.
⁴ See William M. Hornor, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture, Washington, D.C., 1977, p. 185.
⁵ See Beckerdite and Miller, fig. 27, p. 15 and figs. 30-31, pp. 17-8.
⁶ See Eleanore P. Gadsden, "When Good Cabinetmakers Made Bad Furniture: The Career and Work of David Evans," American Furniture 2001, fig. 4, p. 69.
⁷ See N. Hudson Moore, The Old Furniture Book, New York, 1936, fig. 64, p. 138.
⁸ See Heckscher and Bowman, no. 137, p. 201.