Art Institute of ChicagoPublic domain

Secrétaire à abattant

Isaac Vose & Son · 1820–25

Provenance

Ownership history

David Sears (1787-1871), Boston, MA [this and the following according to letter from S. Feld, Nov. 27, 1982; copy in curatorial object file]; by descent to their son, Dr. David Mason Sears, Jr. (1822-1874), Boston; to his son, Dr. Henry Francis Sears (1862-1941), Boston; to his son, Henry Sears (1913–1982) and his wife, Mary P. Sears (1908–2001; born Mary Aikman Pouch, also Mary Smithers), Greenwich, MA [according to letter from Dr. Henry F. Sears II, Aug. 11, 1987; copy in curatorial object file]. Sold to Stuart and Susan Feld, New York, by July 25, 1975 [according to letter from Page Talbott to S. Feld, July 25, 1975; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1983.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

Art Institute of Chicago, <a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/7484/a-decade-of-decorative-arts-the-antiquarian-society-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago">A Decade of Decorative Arts: The Antiquarian Society of The Art Institute of Chicago</a>, Nov. 12, 1986–Jan. 4, 1987, cat. 47.
New York, Hirschl and Adler, Neo Classicism in America, 1810-1840, Apr. 28–June 7, 1991, no cat.
Baltimore Museum of Art, Classical Taste in America, 1800–1840, June 27–Sept. 26, 1993, cat. 120; Charlotte, NC, Mint Museum of Art, Nov. 22, 1993–Mar. 13, 1994; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 1–July 24, 1994.

Literature

Published references

"Living with Antiques: A Connecticut House in Northern New England," The Magazine Antiques 150, no. 2 (Feb., 1972): 360-6 (ill.).
Page Talbott, "Boston Empire Furniture," pt. 2, The Magazine Antiques 109 (May, 1976): 1006, 1010, pl. 2 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report, 1982–83 (1983): 23, fig. 27 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, A Record of Sharing: A Supplement to the 1983–84 Annual Report of the Art Institute of Chicago (1984): 10 (ill.).
Milo M. Naeve, et al., A Decade of Decorative Arts: The Antiquarian Society of The Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1986), 68–70, cat. 47 (ill.).
The Antiquarian Society, "Dinner Menu," (Oct. 26, 1987): (ill.).
Wendy A. Cooper, Classical Taste in America, 1800–1840, exh. cat. (Baltimore Museum of Art, 1993), 162–3, cat. 120 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 143–47, cat. 61 (ill.).
Robert D. Mussey, Jr., and Clark Pearce, "Classical Excellence in Boston: The Furniture of Isaac Vose 1789-1825," in Boston Furniture, 1700–1900, ed. Brock Jobe and Gerald W. R. Ward, vol. 88 (Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 2016), 277-8, fig. 41, <a href="https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/3314#ch15">https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/3314#ch15</a>.
Robert D. Mussey, Jr. and Clark Pearce, Rather Elegant than Showy: The Classical Furniture of Isaac Vose, exh. cat. (Massachusetts Historical Society, 2018), 170, fig. 193 (ill.).

Comparables