Putting the pieces together

The June '08 issue of The Magazine Antiques is the "England" issue, with four (!) feature articles concerning the Victorian era. The first focuses on one of A.W.N. Pugin's church interiors, the second, on a chandelier designed by W.A.S. Benson and the third is a one-pager on the pair of Godwin vases recently acquired by the V&A.

The fourth article is a "Living With Antiques" piece, and concerns an incredible collection of late 19th century English art pottery, furniture and architectural elements. One of the objects highlighted (it is the cover image, in fact, though The Magazine Antiques website hasn't been updated to show it yet) is an ebonized table with four drop leaves (leafs?) which incorporates Minton plaques designed by W. S. Coleman. An identical table was owned by J. Pierpont Morgan, and was photographed, c. 1883, in the drawing room of his New York City brownstone mansion, for Artistic Houses. The interior was by Christian Herter; whether the table was chosen by the decorator or client is unknown, but seems of little consequence, co-existing as harmoniously as it does with the known Herter designs.

The Morgan table is at the far left of the photograph, in the pillared opening of the bay... the chair next to it (and another elsewhere in the photograph) is identical in form to a gilded side chair in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Herter Brothers (American, 1864–1906), Side Chair, New York City, ca. 1880. Painted and gilded maple; H. 87.9 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Margot Johnson, Inc., 1995 (1995.149).

This image with enhanced call-out shows the table and chair more clearly (click on the image for a larger version).

It is very frustrating sometimes, studying period photographs of interiors. The monochromatic images yield a wealth of information, yet the absence of any clues as to the complex and rich colors of the period can be maddening - being able to associate an actual object (or its doppelganger) with a object in a photograph is a small step toward understanding, just a little bit better... now, when I look at that plate in my Dover reprint of Artistic Houses, I can really see that table, and that chair.