Important Americana
Important Americana
Property from the Collection of Leslie and Peter Warwick, Middletown, New Jersey
A Fine and Rare Diminutive Queen Anne Chest-on-Frame, Connecticut River Valley, possibly Hartford, Connecticut area, circa 1760
No reserve
Auction Closed
January 25, 06:34 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 8,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
cherrywood
height 48 in. by width 32 in. by depth 19 ¼ in.
appears to retain its original surface; discovered with early inscribed card James M. Bunce within the top drawer.
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possibly Joel White (1705-1789) m. Ruth Darte (1711-1760), Bolton, Connecticut;
Anna White (1753-1837) m. Judge Jonathan Brace (1754-1837), Glastonbury, Connecticut;
Thomas Kimberly Brace (1779-1860) m. Lucy Mather Lee (c.1785-1837), Hartford, Connecticut;
James Marvin Bunce (1806-1859) m. Frances Ann Brace (1808-1838), Hartford, Connecticut;
Unknown owner;
Charlotte V. Bergen (1898-1982), Bernardsville, New Jersey;
Sotheby's, New York, Important American Furniture, October 23, 1982, sale 4942, lot 190;
Stephen Score, Boston, Massachusetts, at the Pier Antiques Show, New York, 1985.
Remi Spriggs, “Living with antiques: An Americana collection in New Jersey,” Magazine Antiques (April 2005), 94-105;
Leslie and Peter Warwick, Love At First Sight: Discovering Stories About Folk Art & Antiques Collected by Two Generations & Three Families, (New Jersey: 2022), pp. 146-7, fig. 284.
The unknown maker of this chest-on-frame, according to Dr. Thomas Kugelman, likely apprenticed with William Manley in Windsor, Connecticut who moved to the Hartford, Connecticut area.
An old card with the name James M. Bunce was tacked on the back of the upper case. The Warwicks found a James Marvin Bunce (1806-1859) who was a merchant in Hartford and whose family were among the founders of Hartford. James Bunce married Frances Ann Brace (1808-1838), whose parents were Lucy Mather Lee (1785-1837) of Westfield, Massachusetts and Thomas Kimberly Brace (1779-1860) of Hartford, Connecticut.
Frances Ann’s father, Thomas Kimberly Brace, founded the Aetna Insurance Company and was its president from 1819-1857. He was also mayor of Hartford from 1840-1843. Frances Ann’s paternal grandparents were Anna White (1750-1837) and Judge Jonathan Brace (1754-1837) who studied law with Oliver Ellsworth, the first Chief Justice of the United States. He served in the United States Congress from 1799 to 1800 and was a Hartford County judge from 1809 to 1821.