ART ON THE MOVE
Museum Sofa Travels to the Met
By Brian J. Lang, Curator of Decorative Arts
In the early 1800s, furniture from the
workshop of New York City cabinetmaker
Duncan Phyfe (1770–1854) was in such
demand that he was referred to as the
“United States Rage.” On December 20,
2011, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
will re-introduce this artistic and influential
master cabinetmaker to a contemporary
audience with the first retrospective on
Phyfe in ninety years, Duncan Phyfe:
Master Cabinetmaker in New York.
The Columbia Museum of Art is pleased to
participate in this monumental exhibition
through the loan of an exceptional and rare
example of Phyfe’s late output—a Grecian
style sofa from Millford Plantation, located
near Pinewood, South Carolina. Millford
contained a large quantity of furniture
commissioned from Duncan Phyfe and
Son, who in June 1841 delivered fifty-eight
pieces to the property. Made of mahogany,
rosewood and rosewood veneers, with
additional rosewood graining (faux bois),
the Columbia sofa was likely among those
documented on the 1841 bill-of-lading.
In preparation for the exhibition,
conservators at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art undertook an extensive conservation
treatment of the sofa, which included
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