STRIKING RARE INLAID
CHERRY CANDLESTAND

Attributed to
NATHAN LUMBARD
Worcester County (Sturbridge) Massachusetts, ca. 1800.    

Cherrywood, with serpentine-shaped top of figured cherrywood, with striped-inlaid hearts at the corners and centered by an inlaid pinwheel. The column features a deeply carved spiral fluted urn, supported by a tripod base with distinctive spurred knees.

As per Clarke Pearce (The Language of Nathan Lumbard, Antiques and Fine Art, March 2018) “Around 1790, there was a major shift afoot in cabinet shops across greater Worcester County. Printed British pattern books like George Hepplewhite’s Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide carried many new design ideas deep into the agrarian hinterlands. A new generation of young, ambitious artisans embraced the Neoclassical style, changing forever the way the region’s cabinetmakers went about their business. By the late 1790s, cabinetmakers all over central Massachusetts were making furniture in the Neoclassical style with inlaid decoration”.

Further, as stated by Chipstone about Nathan Lumbard: “….superior craftsmanship, love of complex inlay and an impeccable sense of design and proportion”.

Excellent original condition with just a minor old repair at the outer edge of one top-lobe. Original dry surface.  Diminutive size of about 25 5/8 inches tall.   

A similar candlestand attributed to Lombard, yet lacking the heart-corner inlays, sold at Sotheby’s, January, 1999, lot 755, selling for much more. Also see: Crafting Excellence. The Furniture of Nathan Lumbard and His Circle, Winterthur, Christine Jackson, Brock Jobe, Clark Pearce