Some thoughts on the K+C desk @ Fontaines (or....

An Exercise in "Good? Better? Best?")

Lot #75 in the upcoming Fontaine's sale is closely related to No. 382 in the Cooper-Hewitt's Kimbel and Cabus catalog. The desk in the C-H catalog is more heavily carved and (IMO) skillfully designed (the execution of the hatchment-and-foliage on the fall-front, and the more thoughtful design of the door panels); it also has more elaborate and better integrated strap hinges and brasses. Note how the points of the C-H desk's Christopher Dresser-esque "leaves" (?) terminate precisely in the center of the carved corner roundels, and how, by comparision, the execution of the same details on the Fontaine's examples seem rather pointless (pun intended). Additionally, the C-H catalog desk seems to be ebonized, rather than clear-finished (and if not ebonized, certainly not of oak) - while one is neither inherently "better", an ebonized finish would have been more "up-market" and therefore more expensive.

The carved-in-the-round owl finials look like they are identical; the fat little owl also appears in #s 318 and 339.

A desk previously available from Post Road Gallery looks identical (and may even be the same desk). I regret I was not able to locate an image of the actual desk in the Cooper-Hewitt collection... it would have been nice to have had a third example for comparison.  :(

Good observations, misslilybart.  I will say that the two desks are one and the same (Fontaines #75 and Post Road) as the stains on the yellow desk surface are identical.  I wonder if the hardware was replaced at some point?  The hardware does not seem up to par with usual K&C hardware and differs from the catalog as you state.  Close inspection would tell.

As an aside, I think I passed up buying a K&C hanging cabinet, #451 or 452 at a local country auction.  I just couldn't stay for the full auction as the rest of the stuff wasn't worth waiting for.  Had I known it was K&C, I might have stayed.

Quote from: Rare Victorian
I wonder if the hardware was replaced at some point?  The hardware does not seem up to par with usual K&C hardware and differs from the catalog as you state.  Close inspection would tell.

Even without seeing the PR/Fontaines desk in person, the hardware and mounts don't bother me or strike me as replacements; while high-end K&C case pieces do often have elaborately ornamented cast strap hinges, there are many,  many examples from the firm with simpler and plainer hardware, very often with nickel plating... for example, the oak desk in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the gothic hanging cabinet at the Hudson River Museum (in Yonkers, NY) both have original hardware comparable to that of the desk at auction.  For me, one of the most fascinating aspects of K&C is that their shop turned out furniture for an amazingly wide economic spectrum... from higher end and custom pieces (like many of the object in the "catalog") to humbler stock pieces - again, I refer you to the Met's desk.