Parlor Suite (two settees, two armchairs, four side chairs)

In the late 1840s and early 1850s James Williams frequently traveled to New York City to procure furnishings from the best firms for his Utica house, although the Utica city directory of 1852 lists fifty-three cabinetmakers, and Albany, also endowed with fine cabinetmakers, was much closer to home. In 1846 James purchased a worktable (cat. no. 26) made in the shop of Charles Baudouine (1808-95) for his fiancee Helen Munson. Six years later, the elegant simplicity of the worktable apparently appealing to the Williamses’ conservative taste, the couple went back to Baudouine’s shop for an analogous rosewood parlor suite. The May 1852 bill of sale reads: (1)

1 Suit Rosewood Furniture in

Green Tapestry Viz.

2 Tete a Tetes, 4 Chairs & 2 Fauteuils [armchairs] 340.

1 Rosewood Multiform Table 160.

Boxing 5 Boxes $2.50 12.50

$512.50

Executed in a customary interpretation of the rococo revival or Louis XV style, the MWPI parlor grouping is the largest known extant suite of documented Baudouine furniture. The graceful outline of each chair is accented at the crest by a subtle arch enhanced with modest volutes. In a similarly restrained manner, the cabriole legs feature an unobtrusive cabochon on each knee, and the curved seat rail is decorated with gentle scrolls on either side of a central cabochon. In overall form each settee (téte-a-téte) resembles two joined armchairs. The settees are somewhat more complex in their decoration than the chairs: on each settee a carved stylized leaf spray fills the middle of the back, and seat rail carvings that resemble shield-shaped medallions are accented by volutes.

The two sections of the aptly named multiform table can be joined to create a center table (opposite, bottom) or used individually (opposite, top). In the configuration of a center table, the four pierced and castered inner legs cluster together to form a central “pedestal” with a striking, sinuous outline.(2) Nonetheless, the practicality of using the multiform table  a center table might be questioned because of the intrusive middle seam that is created when the tables are joined. The separated sections form matching side tables, which can be used as gaming tables by swinging the inner legs (joined to the outer legs by curved stretchers) outward until the four legs form a square. The top leaf, when lifted and resting upon the repositioned legs, reveals a felt-covered surface.

The simplicity of the tabletop with the applied carved moldings on the skirt is in keeping with the tenor of the suite, but the legs are more intricate. Each outer leg, beginning with a carved corbel at the skirt, descends in rhythmic C-scrolls. Each inner leg is pierced to follow its scroll. Several examples of this table design survive, testifying to the popularity of flexible forms of furniture at a time when parlors and drawing rooms were used for multiple purposes.(3)