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Lot Essay
This exquisitely executed cabinet exhibits the well-developed Anglo-Japanese style at the height of the Aesthetic movement. Known for their finely-crafted furniture in various eclectic and historical styles, half-brothers Gustav and Christian Herter of the New York firm Herter Brothers produced highly-prized unique works and interiors for America’s newly established elite class of industrialists and financiers. The cabinet was likely commissioned by the Astor family and is part of a pair. Its mate sold in The Collection of Mrs. Henry Ford II: Eaton Square and Turville Grange; Christie's, London, 15 April 2021, lot 93 and is inscribed 147 in chalk, referencing the 148 inscription seen on the present lot. The cabinets were possibly made en suite with a similarly decorated and branded cabinet, sold New Orleans Auction Galleries, New Orleans, 22 May 2022, lot 639. The bronze inset plaques to the present lot and to the two referenced cabinets closely recall the Japanese-inspired marquetry panels seen in a stamped and similarly rectilinear-form cabinet by Herter Brothers, now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. no. 20003). Illustrating an amalgamation of styles, the brass-inlaid swag and droplet motif seen here are reminiscent of the carved ribbon and jeweled garland decoration prominently showcased on the pedestals for the drawing room the William H. Vanderbilt House, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 2002.298.2). The frieze decoration on this cabinet served as inspiration at the Temple of Wings and was recreated along the ceiling border of the room the cabinet anchored in the North Wing.
Noted to have been commissioned by the Astor family and later owned by “Viscount Astor” at the time of its sale in 1996, this cabinet was probably made for John Jacob Astor III (1822-1890). His New York City mansion was located at 338 Fifth Avenue, later the site of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel and subsequently the Empire State building. As the pair of chairs in this sale, lot 57 indicates, Astor was a patron of the Herter Brothers firm. Upon his death, his estate was inherited by his only child, William Waldorf Astor (1848-1919), who relocated to England where he was bestowed the title of Viscount Astor by King George V in 1917.
Noted to have been commissioned by the Astor family and later owned by “Viscount Astor” at the time of its sale in 1996, this cabinet was probably made for John Jacob Astor III (1822-1890). His New York City mansion was located at 338 Fifth Avenue, later the site of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel and subsequently the Empire State building. As the pair of chairs in this sale, lot 57 indicates, Astor was a patron of the Herter Brothers firm. Upon his death, his estate was inherited by his only child, William Waldorf Astor (1848-1919), who relocated to England where he was bestowed the title of Viscount Astor by King George V in 1917.