Carswell Rush Berlin Inc.
Sold to a private collector at the 2003 Philadelphia Antiques Show
Rare Pair of Restauration "Recamier" Couches in Grecian Plain Style
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1830-1840
Figured mahogany veneer and tulip popular secondary wood
H. 33", W. 74", D. 24" each
Courtesy of Carswell Rush Berlin Inc.
These couches are outstanding examples of a style that became prevalent in the United States after 1830. This so-called "plain style" was inspired by the furniture forms of Greek antiquity and the Restauration period of the Bourbon monarchy in France. The pair was not copied directly from English pattern books and show considerable originality. The style may have been inspired in part by examples in Rudolph Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions & Politics, published in 1825. Ackermann's Repository, published serially in London from 1809 to 1828, was a popular journal referenced by Philadelphia cabinetmakers between 1825 and 1830.
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