American Rococo, 1750-1775 Elegance in Ornament

307 Pages·2013·176.82 MB·English

by  Morrison H. Heckscher

American Rococo, 1750-1775
American Rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in Ornament

American Rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in Ornament

MORRISON H, HECKSCHER

LESLIE GREENE BOWMAN

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York
‘This book is presented as a bene
‘of your museum membership. The
‘exhibitions and programs of the
Los Angeles County Musourn of Act
would not be possible without your
‘Benecous support

ais book has been published in conjunction with che exhibition Amer
teen Rococo, r7s0-n7s: Blegance in Ornament, eld 2t The Metropolitan
“Museum of Art, New York, from a6 Janay ta May, and atthe Los
Angeles County Museum of Art from 5 July to 27 September 1992.

The exhibition i made possible by ‘The Henry Lace Foundation, Inc
and the Nasional Endownent for the Ars.

“The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Muscum of Att and
the Los Angeles County Museum of Ar

‘Additional support fo the exhibition in New York has been provided
by The Real Estate Council of The Metropolitan Museum of Ar.

Addsional support forthe exibition in Los Angeles has been provided
by the Rohere snd Nancy Daly Founsron

1 exhibition iv also supported 2 the Metropolitan Museum by grants
fom Annette de la Renta, H. Richard Dietrich, Jr., Me. and Mrs.
Anthony L. Geller, Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Goelet, Grace Foundation
Inc., Mr. and Mis. Robert A. Het, Joullian & Co., Mr and Mrs
George M. Kaufman, Mrs. Alexander O. Victor, nd Mr. and Mrs.
Erving Wolf,

‘The book: that accompanies the enilbition is made pusibe'a pat by a
senerous grant from the Luce Fund for Scholarship in American Arta
progeam of The Henry Luce Foundation, In. Additional funding was
Feceived from The William Cullen Bryant Fellows of The American
Wing at the Metropolitan Museum, The Chipstone Foundation,
Sotheby's, Jol L. Marion, and the Arnerican Derartive Arts Depart
rent oF Cheat’, New Yor

CCover-jacket Slab table, Philadelphia, 3.1770. The Metropolitan
Museum of Are, Join Stewart Kennedy Fund, 918 (8.10.27)

Frontispiece: Coffee pot, 4.17
Philadelphia Museum ot Ar, Pug
20-1)

Philip Syug, Jr., Philadelphia
ed: John D. Millierny Fa (60

Copyright © 192 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Allrights reserved, No part of this publication may be reprodiced or
‘transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, resording, or any information storage and
retieval system, without writen pecmission from the publisher

Joba P. O'Neil, Esto in Chi and Goneral Manager of Pabiatone

Mary-Alie Rogers, Editar, The Wiliam Cullen Bryant Fall
Publication, The American Wing

Elizabeth Finger, Deen

Helga Lose, Prion

“Tyree by Crafeman Type Ine, Dayton, Ohio
Color eproduccion by Reprocolor Intemational sc, Mila, Italy

Library of Congiess Catloging-in-Publiation Daca

Heckscher, Mortsen H.

‘American racaco, 1750-1775: clegance in ornament / Morrison H,
Heckscher, Leslie Greene Bowman

ipbk.)— ISBN o-8109-

qn (Abrams)

1. Decoration snd emament, Rococo—United States—Exhibiions. 2

Decoration and ornament United Srates=~ History — 18th century ~

Eibitions. [ Bova, Lee Greene. U. Tile

NK ou sla 1992 as.a'es'onosz0r4re71—dea0 oi-a999s
ae
CONTENTS

FOREWORD va
PREFACE vm
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION xv

‘The American Rococo 1

Architecture

Engravings 7
Silver 7
Furniture 433
Cast Iron, Glass, and Porcelain 219
NOTES 240
BIBLIOGRAPHY 237
EXHIBITION CHECKLIST 264
INDEX 296

PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS 28

FOREWORD

The rococo style was among the primary artistie contribue
ms of the eighteenth cencury, Its manifestations thro

‘out Europe have been comprehensively acknowledged and.
chronicled, bur its influence in America, where it was proba~
bly the century's crowning de:
referred to as the Chippend
ouglly examined. Te was a lavish taste that found surpris-
ingly fereile ground in the colonies, where affluent members
of society, rejoicing in their hard-won prosperity, strove to
adopt London fashions, Their success in so doing is richly
demonstrated in the pages that follow and in the exibition
that this book accompanies.

‘We are especially pleased that America Rococo, 1750-1775
Elegance in Omament should be jointly organized by our nwo
institutions, The undertaking began with the desire of the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art to mount an exhibition
of American Chippendale furniture in a city where such
objects have always been in short supply. With the realiza~

gn achievement (commonly
le style), has never been thor

tion that there had never been a comprehensive examination
of the rococo style as it was practiced in the American col~
nies, and chat such an exhibition might be of interest on the
as on the west, the Metropolitan Museum
od forces with Los Any

This bicoastal venture results from the efforts of Morrison
H. Heckscher, Curator, American Decorative Arts, at The
Metropelitan Musevn of Art, and Leslie

joi

les.

feene Bowman,

Curator of Decorative Arts at the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, Such a partnership acknow!
tury of commitment t ative arts at The
Metropolitan Museum of Art and the extraordinary growth
of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art since its found-
ing in 1913

We take pleasure in extending our gratitude to a number
of institutions and individuals for the generosity that made
American Rococo possible, particularly The Henry Luce
Foundation, Ine., whose gift toward the book in 198s
launched che undertaking and whose further contribution in

the een=

American dec

got materially aided the endeavor. Additional support for

the exhibition has been provided by the National Endow-

mens for the Arts. Ata crucial moment, members of the

Visiting Committee of the Department of American Decora
tive Arts at the Metropolitan took up che cause of the project
with handsome individual gifts, We are also obliged to the
William Cullen Bryant Fellows of The American Wing of
the Metropolitan Museum, whose editor, Mary-Alice
Rogers, saw the book through to publication

Phe presencation of che exhibition in New York is made
possible in part by the financial assistance provided by The
Real Estate Council of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Additional support for the exhibition in New York has been
provided by Annette de la Renta, H. Richard Dietrich, Jr,
Mr. and Mrs. Anthony L. Geller, Mr. and Mrs. Robert G.
Goelet, Grace Foundation Inc., Mr. and Mrs. Robert A.
Hur, Joullian & Co., Mr, and Mrs, George M. Kaufman,
Mrs, Alexander ©. Vietor, and Mr. and Mes, Erving Wolt,
We are further obligated to the Robert and Nancy Daly
Foundation for its contribution toward the production of the
exhibition in Los Angeles

We are indebted to the Luce Fund for Scholarship in
American Art, a program of The Henry Luce Foundation,
Inc., for providing a generous grant toward the publication
of the book. Additional funding was received from The
Chipstone Foundation, Sotheby's, John L. Marion, and
the American Decorative Arts Department of Christie's
New York.

‘Museums have always depended for
fon the sponsorship of their fri
tangible outpouring of
vital than itis in the world of today, n
more reason to cherish it.

That
and interest has never been more

ids and benefactors

or have we ever had

Philippe de Montebello, Direcor
The Metropolitas Museum of Art

Earl A, Powell Ill, Director
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
PREFACE

American Rococo, 175

L775: Elegance in Omament is a book
about a style, In planning it and the exhil
panies, the authors decided on two arbitrary restrictions: that
the definition of rococo be limited to the ornamental aspect
of the eighteenth-century style and that the works chosen for
inclusion he limited to those of Am

an manuhecure
Obviously, however, there had to be some flexibility in the
range of dates defined in the title. In addition, though a
handful of English-made pieces are present to illustrate the
essential English quality of the style as well as the manner of
its transmission to America, we chose to concentrate not on
the admixture of imported and native-made objects that was
the reatity of che furnishings of che colonial elite bur on the
best examples of domestic ereativity, which we selected for
their exceptional workmanship and aesthetic merit. As is,
always the case with a loan exhibition, because of conserva

tion concerns, financial exigencies, and other practical limits~
tions, we had to forgo certain objects we would otherwise
have chosen,

The book does not purport to be a survey of the arts in
America in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. Silver
and furniture—in this country che two eategories most con-
genial to rococo ommamentation—form the principal sections,
and are therefore discussed
avenues of artistic endeavor we excluded are American
paintings (such as mid-century portraits by Blackburn and
the young Copley) now generally considered to be of a
rococo sensibility but having little, if anything, to do with
rococo ornamentation. The inclusion of certain domestic
neoclassical portraits is justified by their being enclosed is
their original, Insurioush
some of the era's major regional schools, either because theie
ourput is nor in the rococo mode (the fimous baroque
block-and-shell furniture of Newport, for instance) or

greatest length. Among the

rococo frames, Unrepresented are

because their invacation of the style is so far removed fro
the English source as to constitute a totally different image
(fariture by Eliphalet Chapin of Windsor, Connectit
Idiosyncratic offshoot of Philadelphia design —immediately
comes to mind),

Ps

marily, the book and the

in colonial America? The relevance of that question became
increasingly apparent through our long preparation by the
oninipresent specter of Jobn Henry Belter, whose fostering
of the rococo-revival style in mid-nineteenth-century
America is so widely recognized as to obfuscate the original
rococo’s flourishing on these shores, Borogue & Rococo
Architecure & Decoration, edited by Anthony Blunt (London,
1978), a major international sur

the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, never even men=
sions England's colonies in the New World. As authors, we
owe a debt of inspiration co Rococo: Art and Design i
Heparth’s England, an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert
‘Museum, and ies accompanying catalogue (London, 1984

h provided a cormucopie view of the style's presence in
England; itis our aim to achieve something comparable for
its presence in America,

‘The first chapter of the book, a summary of the European
origins and the American manifestations of the rococo, con-
cludes with a brief discussion of fi
consists equally of engraved metal and carved wood, and
textiles, which are too few in number to warrant a separate
study. The second chapter is devoted to architecture,
Though little of it survives and only one example is con
tained in the exhibition, it provided dhe setting for the style’s
use in the other mediums and in itself served as a showplace
for the carver’s are. The rest of the book is arranged in chap~
ters according, to medium (paper; silver: wood; iron, glass,

of the dominant styles of |
and ceramics), with the focus of the text on the style of an
object and with matters of construction, condition, and,
provenance touched on only insofar as was deemed
‘Objects whose illustrations are identified by a number and.
a brief caption are part of the exhibition and are recorded in
full in its checklist (pp. 264-73). The number appears in
boldface type at that poi in the text where the object is dis
cussed at length, in a section set off by spaces, suggesting,
what would be an entry in a standard exhibition
Illustrations identified by a figure number are of objects that
could nor be included in che exhibition or of imag
were added to the text for comparative purposes
Dimensions are given in inches, to the nearest eighth of an
inch, and in centimeters. Where only one dimension is

st

aziven, icis the greatest; where there are two or three, unless
otherwise noted, they are in order of height, width, and
depth, For works on pape
plate mark, if it exists, or of the image, if it does not. For
objects of wood, the semicolon after the primary wood
denotes that those that follow are secondary, The bibliog-
raphy (pp. 257-63) contains noe only all references employed

the measurements are of the

in short form in the text and in the endnotes bur also sources
of general importance to any investigation of the American

Morrison H, Heckscher
Leslie Greene Bowman