The William K. du Pont Collection: Important Americana from Rocky Hill

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 170. Very Fine and Rare William and Mary Parquetry Inlaid Walnut Bible Box, possibly by Thomas Thomas (1687-1774), Radnor Township area, Chester County, Pennsylvania, Dated 1746.

Very Fine and Rare William and Mary Parquetry Inlaid Walnut Bible Box, possibly by Thomas Thomas (1687-1774), Radnor Township area, Chester County, Pennsylvania, Dated 1746

Auction Closed

January 23, 10:36 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Very Fine and Rare William and Mary Parquetry Inlaid Walnut Bible Box

possibly by Thomas Thomas (1687-1774)

Radnor Township area, Chester County, Pennsylvania

Dated 1746

The top with banded inlay surrounding inlaid suns and tulips on each side sprouting from a central urn flanked by the initials HI and 1746, over a case front with additional banded and scroll inlay around tulip sprays and an elaborate geometric wheel design, on bracket feet with inlaid stars and a central fan medallion as well as the continued scroll inlay following the curve of the shaped apron.

Height 8 3/4 in. by Width 18 1/4 in. by Depth 12 1/4 in.

Mrs. John A. Coyle, Lancaster, Pennsylvania;

L.J. Gilbert and Sons Auctioneers, The Renowned Collection of Early American Furniture and Antiques of the Late Mrs. John A. Coyle, May 26 & 27, 1938, lot 490;

Sidney McIlvain Kutz, Reading, Pennsylvania;

Sotheby's, New York, American Folk Art, Furniture and Decorations, June 30, 1984, sale 5215, lot 331;

Ronald Pook Antiques, Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Worldly Goods: The Arts of Early Pennsylvania, 1680-1758, October 1999-January 2000.

Jack L. Lindsey, Worldly Goods: The Arts of Early Pennsylvania, 1680-1758, (Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1999), pp. 139, no. 5.

This exceptional bible box was likely made by Thomas Thomas, a Quaker immigrant from Flintshire, Wales. Two other boxes have been attributed to his hand by Wendy Cooper and Lisa Minardi. The box dated 1737 and initialed SS for Sarah Smedley (1717-1801) is in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum while the other box dated 1739 and initialed HP is in the collection of the Chester County Historical Society. The keystone for these attributions is the tall clock case made by Thomas Thomas and offered in the current sale as lot 188. For additional analysis on Thomas Thomas see Wendy A. Cooper and Lisa Minardi, Paint, Patter & People: Furniture of Southeastern Pennsylvania 1725-1850, Winterthur, DE: The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc., 2011), 124-8. The HP box is illustrated in Margaret Schiffer, Arts and Crafts of Chester County, Pennsylvania, (Exton, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1980), p. 71.