Brunk Auctions
Live Auction

Premier Auction | Session III

Sat, Dec 7, 2019 09:00AM EST
Lot 1592

Rare and Important Chippendale Corner Cupboard

Estimate: $40,000 - $60,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $25
$100 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$3,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
Northampton or Bertie County, North Carolina, attributed to the Sharrock family cabinetmakers, 1775-1790, walnut with yellow pine secondary, single case construction, upper section with scrolled pediment with original gouge-carved rosettes, over two glazed and paneled doors opening to deeply scalloped shelves over a mixing slide, above two paneled doors on original ogee bracket feet, 111 in. high; Note: The corner cupboard is illustrated and described by John Bivins in his book, The Furniture of Coastal North Carolina, pp. 258-259, 6.21. It is recorded in the MESDA Object Database, NCE-7-51/NCE-67-6, Photo S-1707. It was examined by Frank Horton on 12/14/1970 and by John Bivins on 5/30/1986.The corner cupboard descended in the family of the original owner where it was installed at Oakland Plantation in Roxobel, North Carolina (Bertie County). Upon the untimely deaths of Isa and Edgar Powell who owned Oakland Plantation, the cupboard and other family heirlooms resided with the Norfleet family at Woodbourne Plantation in Roxobel where the children of Isa and Edgar Powell were reared. Those children were Junius Bishop Powell, Dorothy Elizabeth Powell and John William Gordon Powell. The cupboard remained in Roxobel until it was moved to the Charlotte, North Carolina home of Dorothy Elizabeth Powell Moore in the early 1920’s; her widowed Aunt, Mary Frances Bishop Jacobs, resided with her until Mrs. Jacobs' death. Upon Dorothy Moore’s move to Mooreland Farm in 1954, the cupboard was transferred to her brother, Junius Bishop Powell and moved to his home on Blount Street in Raleigh; at his death the cupboard remained in the care of his widow, Julia Cain Manning Powell, who asked her daughter to keep the cupboard in her new home on Alamance Drive in Raleigh because of its height. At Mrs. Powell’s death on August 10, 1992, the cupboard was bequeathed to her daughter. The cupboard was built and has resided in North Carolina within the descent of one family from its original build until the present day.; Provenance: Descended in the Bishop and Powell families of Bertie County.

Condition

This rare cupboard survives in excellent condition. It is lacking a central turned finial (there are later holes at sides for finials that likely postdated the period), some deep stains to lower doors (by family tradition the lower section was used to store salt pork and the salt leached into wood) minor separation to lower section joint at right, brass H-hinges replaced (two possibly original), retains two original pierced brass escutcheons (lacking door catches and two additional brass escutcheons); appears to have retained much of its original glazing (one panel with small edge loss, one with small crack), original feet and blocking with some very minor patches, one lower door with wear and loss at edge from use