Charles-Honoré Lannuier (French, 1779–1819)
American (New York City)
Mahogany, white pine, yellow poplar, basswood, ash; mahogany veneer, gilt gesso, faux-bronze patination, gilt brass; H. 31 1/8 in. (79.1 cm)
Inscribed twice: (on front to back brace under top) Fait a New-York/ Le 1 May 1817/HL [conjoined]; (on top of figure's head) 1817/May/HL [conjoined]
Gift of Justine VR Milliken, 1995 (1995.377.1)
This superlative card table is one of two from a signature series of gilded sculptural pieces by New York's resident French ébéniste of the Federal period, Charles-Honoré Lannuier. The tables are remarkable not only for their exquisite beauty but also because they are signed and dated masterpieces descended in the family of the original owner, Stephen Van Rensselaer IV of Albany.
The tables are believed to be part of a larger commission by the New York City merchant William Bayard that included a nearly identical pair of figural card tables and two pier tables with gilded swan supports, wedding gifts for his daughters Harriet and Maria, who in 1817 married Stephen Van Rensselaer IV and Duncan Pearsall Campbell. The invoice for the Campbell tables survives, revealing how expensive furniture from Lannuier's shop was. The pair of card tables was priced at $250, and the pier table at $300, astonishing sums when a journeyman cabinetmaker's wage was roughly a dollar a day.
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Related Index Terms
Artist
Material and Technique
- • Wood, Furniture
- • Wood, Furniture, North America
- • Wood, organized by technique
- • Wood, organized by technique, Gessoed
- • Wood, organized by technique, Gilded
- • Wood, organized by type
- • Wood, organized by type, Ash
- • Wood, organized by type, Mahogany
- • Wood, organized by type, Pine
- • Wood, organized by type, Poplar
