Images(6)

Clothes Press

Maker Fenwick Lyell

Period1795-1805

MediumMahogany, mahogany veneer, tulip poplar, and white pine

Dimensions95.5 × 49.13 × 19.5 in. (242.6 × 124.8 × 49.5 cm)

ClassificationsStorage Furniture

Credit LineBequest of H. Austin Kaye, 1984

Object number1984.2.1

DescriptionA clothes press in three parts. The upper section consists of two flat panel doors of bold mahogany flame veneer framed with narrow molding and a narrow applied vertical molding strip along the inner edge of the right door. The interior includes five sliding trays with shaped sides and unmolded front rails. Above the doors runs a narrow band of figured mahogany veneer edged with narrow applied molding strips. A removable cornice that fits atop the upper section features a graceful scroll pediment ornamented with delicate pierced brackets curving to a central plinth surmounted by a large gilded urn with sprays of wheat. The lower section of the press contains four graduated drawers with scratch beaded edges, small keyholes, and elaborate stamped and gilded bails and backplates that depict pairs of doves perched on a splashing fountain flanked by floral and foliate sprigs. Four straight bracket feet support the press.
Curatorial RemarksA longstanding family tradition claimed that the clothes press was made by Fenwick Lyell (1767 - 1822), a skilled cabinetmaker who was raised in Middletown, Monmouth County, but who worked primarily in New York City. The Association owns a small watercolor miniature of Lyell dated 1807 and signed by John Wesley Jarvis, Lyell's ledger B covering the years 1800 to 1813, and his copy of The Cabinet-makers' London Book of Prices and Designs of Cabinet Work (London: 1793). The ledger or account book provides a detailed look at Lyell's cabinetmaking business. It records transactions with two hundred and ninety eight customers. The entries show that he was making all sorts of furniture for his clients from cradles to coffins, as well as repairing furniture and musical instruments, installing window "cornishes" and blinds, putting up and taking down beds, and selling materials or finished pieces to other New York cabinetmakers. An advertisement that appeared in The New York Gazette on 30 June 1798 indicated that the shop and "Ware Room" was located at 46 Beaver Street in Manhattan, where Lyell offered "a large and elegant assortment of Furniture, made after the newest and most approved fashions." Curiously, the ledger makes only two specific references to clothes presses. On 16 December 1802 he charged John Duryee 16 pounds for "1 Lowe Clothes Press." Nearly a year later, he was paid 2 pounds 16 shillings "To repairing a Large Clothes Press" for John W. Mulligan. The single most expensive piece of furniture Lyell made for a client cost 32 pounds. The entry, dated 30 September 1808, reads, "To 1 French Press all Mahogany" for William Montgomery. Several additional pieces of case furniture are attributed to Fenwick Lyell by family histories. One is a pitched pediment desk and bookcase made for his father in law Ezekiel Forman. The other is a clothes press with an identical pitched pediment that was believed to be owned by John and Mary Lloyd Hendrickson, as was this example. Other than the obvious difference in the design of the delicate open work scroll pediment on the Association's example, the three pieces share many characteristics in common, such as large flat rectangular doors, a band of mahogany veneer just below the cornice, straight bracket feet, and four drawers in the lower case. The two presses also featured sliding trays in the interior of their upper cases rather than more common shelves. The lightness of the open work in the pediment of the Association's clothes press, plus the use of large stamped and gilded hardware and a gilded urn finial on a veneered plinth, give this example an enhanced appearance of elegance.NotesA high styled clothes press, it was first owned by John Hendrickson (1773 - 1807) and Mary Lloyd (1772 - 1865) of Middletown, Monmouth County. They were married in 1793. John Hendrickson died in 1807 at the young age of thirty-four. A very successful farmer, his estate inventory taken on 20 April 1807 came to a total value of $7,558.35. Among the household furniture listed was "1 Clothes Press" valued at $50.00. Clearly an important piece of furniture, it compared favorably to "3 Mahogany Tables & Stand" appraised at $34.00, and "8 Do Cushioned Chair[s]" assessed at $60.00. For much of the rest of her long life, Mary Lloyd Hendrickson resided with her son, Charles J. Hendrickson (1805 - 1889), who built a large restrained Greek Revival residence called Locustwood in Middletown village in 1831. The clothes press remained part of the furnishings in that grand residence for almost a century. After the death of Hendrickson's daughter Louise Wikoff Hendrickson Hartshorne (1839 - 1876), her husband Edward M. Hartshorne (1837 - 1886) and their three children moved into Locustwood. The clothes press then descended in the family as follows: to Hartshorne's son William (1872 - 1944); to his daughter Louise Hartshorne Kaye (1909 - 1966); to her husband and donor by bequest H. Austin Kaye (1908 - 1982). For other Hendrickson furniture from Locustwood, see accession number 1995.530.

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