AN AMERICAN NEO-GREC PARCEL-GILT, PATINATED BRONZE, MEXICAN ONYX AND ROSEWOOD CENTER TABLE

The present table, decorated in a luxurious juxtaposition of exotic materials, bears all the hallmarks of the illustrious New York City firm of Pottier & Stymus. As one of the premier cabinetmaking firms of the late 19th century, the company specialized in designs in the ‘neo-Grec’, Renaissance revival, Egyptian revival and Modern Gothic styles prevalent during America’s Gilded Age. With more than 700 employees, Pottier & Stymus was founded at a time of boundless wealth in America and, much like their contemporary Herter Brothers, often served as foreman to every aspect of interior design. From the creation of the opulent furnishings to the fabrication of wall treatments and draperies, the firm was responsible for their client’s every whim. While many early design and inventory records were lost to fire on 1 March 1888, documentation of the firm’s ‘top-to-bottom’ service is preserved in such instances as the 1884 completion of Glenmont, Llewellyn Park in New Jersey for Thomas Edison.

Though unmarked, this tour de force of ‘artistic’ furniture was undoubtedly produced by Pottier & Stymus and relates closely to examples recorded specifically in the New York collection of A. T. Stewart, a titan of the dry goods industry. Several tables mounted with ‘Mexican onyx’ - prominently displayed on the present model - were ‘made to order’ by the firm and are further described in the auction catalogue of The A.T. Stewart Collection, American Art Association, New York, 23-28 March 1887, lots 987 and 992. The latter, incorporating ‘artistically carved classical subjects in low relief, ormolu, gold’ seemingly corresponds with one of two tables illustrated in the Drawing and Music Rooms of the Stewart residence (illustrated A. Lewis et al., The Opulent Interiors of the Gilded Age, New York, 1987, pp. 35-36).

Another table, nearly identical to the example from the Stewart Music Room (op. cit. p. 36) and bearing the present distinctive bas-relief border, was sold at Christie’s, New York, 20 September 2016, lot 909.