Posted 5 years ago
groveland
(25 items)
A while ago, I posted a table by the NYC furniture making firm, the Merklen Brothers. For that posting and some background information, please see:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/231737-since-weve-talking-about-hunzinger
Also see this website:
http://rarevictorian.com/2010/12/spiral-furniture-often-not-hunzinger.html
Paul Tucker has studied Merklen Brothers furniture. He is the author of an article "Moorish Fretwork Furniture" which appeared the May, 2005 "The Magazine Antiques". A history of the Merklen Brothers and examples of their furniture are included in this article. Finally, Mr. Tucker has posted many examples of Merklen Brothers furniture here:
https://www.pinterest.com/pandktucker/merklen-brothers-furniture/?lp=true
Both are wonderful sources of information about this firm that produced, IMHO, some of the most compelling over the top furniture of the Victorian period.
You will need to cut and past the URL's into your navigation bar.
I recently came across this mahogany chair by the Merklen Brothers. It incorporates their characteristic spiral turnings, brass accents and their brass paw feet clutching WOODEN not glass balls.
It survives in a wonderful state of preservation and finish.
I think it's just so bold, gutsy and over the top. It's the kind of furniture that you either love or despise. I guess I'm firmly in the former camp.
Groveland.