
Benjamin Walker
Head of Dept.
Sold for US$162,575 inc. premium
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A tour de force of Indian carving and an exemplar of de Forest's output, this architectural chimneypiece is inspired by 16th and 17th-century Indian buildings de Forest first encountered in Ahmedabad and elsewhere in India during his travels there in the early 1880s. The cusped arch over the mirror plate is similar to that found over a doorway in Multan, India (now Pakistan), photographed by de Forest and published in his Indian Domestic Architecture of 1885, and the brackets supporting the mantel shelf and the cornice are reduced versions of familiar external supports, used by de Forest on both his New York and Santa Barbara residences.
Fireplaces were a popular feature of de Forest's work. At least three can be seen at Olana, Frederick Church's Orientalist villa near Hudson, New York; and several of his other patrons had them installed including one supplied by de Forest for the conservatory of the Ralph Augustus and Grace Harman House, Cleveland, Ohio, around 1885-1890.
Examples of the carved square panels on the frieze below the mantel shelf are illustrated by Roberta Mayer, Lockwood de Forest, 2008, p. 66. These are noted as being designed by Indian master craftsmen or mistri in Ahmedabad and shipped to New York by de Forest to be used in various furniture and interior schemes.
Literature
Mayer, Roberta A. Lockwood de Forest, 'Furnishing the Gilded Age with Passion for India', Newark, 2008, p. 66 fig. 47 for examples of the teak panel, p.139 for an illustration of the Harman House fireplace.
Exhibited
Debra Force Fine Art, 'An Exotic Journey, the Paintings and Furniture of Lockwood de Forest', January 27 - March 13 2015