A fine American Rococo Revival rosewood Parlor Sofa , attributed to New York City and Franco-American cabinetmaker such as Roux or Baudoine. This sofa is upholstered in crimson damask.
This fine sofa , developed Rococo Revival manner , is expressed with great style and invention . It is richly carved, with cabriole legs, and is made of solid rosewoodd throughout.
The sofa has a back composed of three cartouche-shaped upholstered "chair-back" panels, those panels separted by lacy carved openwork sections, the carvings of pendant fruits and nuts terminating in full bunches of grapes. The crests of each sofa are elaborately carved with fruits and nuts and grapes. The shaped C-scroll skirts are carved with a central pendant finial of fruit.
The sofa rests on casters.
The sofa has an oval panel in the back, some woven with a vignette of cupids drawing, with palettes and sketchbook; some with a cupid sculpting a marble bust; some with a vignette of a tall formal case of flowers.
This sofa is carved in a very similar manner to the furniture of the Belter School of New York City rococo cabinetmaking. The Detail suggests an attribution to Charles A. Baudoine or Alexander Roux, contemporaries and competitors of John Henry Belter. The French-born Baudoine was a highly scophisticated cabinetmaker.
American, New York City, Circa 1850-60, Attributed to Charles A. Baudoine.
There accompanies a letter of provenance that the sofa was bought in Jersey City by James G. Brown, who was married in 1851. He was one of the earliest wholesale dry good merchants in St. Louis with connections in New York City to which he made frequent trips. The sofa was part of a set that was bought originally for this house where it has ample room for display.
dimension:
66" long
40" tall at center back
20" deep
Condition: Good condition for its age. The Sofa was rarely used and sat for many years in a protected living room setting. The Sofa was re-upholstered in the elegant red silk damask in the early 1950's, and the yardage was purported to have been $80.00 per yard. The Sofa is in very good condition, but from photos you can see that the sofa has some loose stuffing underneath and may have age blemishes or minor age related upholstered areas
#2-10 -- RM2
