14th Anniversary Preview

14th Anniversary 22 www.antiquesandfineart.com DISCOVERY Fraktur, Religious text Andreas Kolb (1749–1811) Montgomery County, Pa, ca. 1785 Courtesy Winterthur Museum Purchased with funds provided by the Henry Francis du Pont Collectors Circle This extraordinary fraktur is a masterpiece from the hand of Andreas Kolb, a Mennonite schoolmaster and fraktur artist who taught in Montgomery and Lehigh Counties during the late 1700s. Lavishly illustrated with birds, flowers, human figures, and a large double eagle at center, it is signed by Kolb at the top center. The fraktur—a Germanic style of decorative work on paper—is part of a landmark acquisition from the estate of Pastor Frederick S. Weiser (1935–2009), and is widely regarded by scholars and collectors as one of the greatest Pennsylvania German fraktur ever made. Pastor Weiser is considered one of the foremost scholars and collectors of Pennsylvania German decorative arts. The acquisition is one of the largest in the museum’s history and includes 121 fraktur plus nearly 200 textiles and other items in addition to Pastor Weiser’s extensive research papers. Renaissance Revival Armchair Possibly Herter Brothers, New York, ca. 1870s-1880s Purchased by the White House Acquisition Trust Courtesy, Stanley Weiss Collection, Providence, R.I. This commodious Renaissance Revival armchair, with bold carved lion heads terminating each arm, is probably the work of Herter Brothers of New York or an equally skilled contemporary. The chair was recently found in an auction, with the notation, “Possibly part of the furnishings of the Red Room at the White House during the Grant administration”; it bore a plaque reading “Executive Mansion, President William McKinley, COMR P.B. & G., Colonel Theo. A. Bingham, No. 190.” After we acquired the chair, communication with the White House curator revealed it was photographed in the presidential office spaces of the White House, prior to 1889 (Grant left office in 1877). The curator believes the plaque was attached during McKinley’s presidency (1897–1901), and the chair was likely deaccessioned during the Roosevelt administration (1901–1909) when the White House underwent a massive renovation. Today, the White House Acquisition Trust is actively engaged in tracking down missing treasures and returning them to the White House museum. We are proud to have returned one such historic object into the hands of the office for which it was made. NOTEWORTH Y S A L E