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Can you tell me a little about this clock and this fireplace?

Sure! This fireplace and its accoutrements were designed and installed by the design firm of the Herter Brothers for John Sloane who was a partner at W & J Sloane, a New York furniture company. The fireplace is designed in the Jacobean Revival style, influenced by 16th-century English furniture and design. It's massive, and yet finely detailed.

The clock itself was not designed by the Herter brothers, but actually imported from France.

Why doesn't the base of the wood column meet the mantle on this piece?

This mantel is a fragment of a period room in storage and so was never meant to be an independent object.

Do you have any thoughts as to why they might not touch?

We thought that there might be a missing piece of decorative molding?

That's a pretty good theory.

Is there anything about the style or form that looks incomplete to you? Like something might be missing?

Yes, the entire length of the mantle had a large gap between the base of the top piece

I see. Yes. I think that's because the entire work was acquired directly from the owner's house. So it was disassembled there and reassembled here...

I suppose it's possible it used to fit together more tightly, but I couldn't say.

What drew you to the fireplace in particular?

I love Herter Brothers so I was immediately drawn to it. I also noticed holes in the marble of the fireplace

What can you tell me about this?

This fireplace surround was once part of an elaborately decorated library in a mansion on Fifth Avenue (near the Metropolitan Museum of Art today). The room was designed by the Herter Brothers, who were one of the leading interior design and cabinetmaking firms in New York. Many of their clients were so-called "robber barons" -- self-made Americans with vast personal fortunes who wished to furnish their new luxurious homes in a style that looked historic. This fireplace is in the Jacobean Revival style; the finely carved woodwork resembles architecture and furniture from 17th-century England.

Can you tell me more about all of this?

This fireplace and its various parts were designed and installed by the firm of the Herter Brothers for John Sloane, who was a partner at W. & J. Sloane, a NY furniture company. The fireplace is designed in the Jacobean Revival Style, influenced by 16th century English furniture and design. The Jacobean style was noted for its 3-dimensional fullness of the design, which I think comes across with this sturdy mahogany fireplac

Lower Portion of Chimney Breast

Decorative Arts and Design

On View: American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, A Quiet Place

In 1882 John Sloane, a partner in the New York furniture retailer W. & J. Sloane, paid Herter Brothers $16,075 for the decoration of his Fifth Avenue mansion. The library’s woodwork and furniture, and much of its contents—paintings and objects—are preserved in the Museum. This mantel is rendered in the Jacobean Revival style, inspired by the arts of sixteenth-century England. Herter Brothers not only made the woodwork and furniture, but also supplied other decorative elements, including the elaborate curtains, objects, and imported French fireplace accoutrements such as the brass sconces, clock garniture, and fire screen.

MAKER Unknown

RETAILER Herter Brothers, American, 1865–1905

MEDIUM Mahogany, marble, brass

Place Made: New York, New York, United States

DATES ca. 1881

DIMENSIONS Overall mantel (41.980.72a-e): 129 x 100 1/4 x 12 1/2 in. (327.7 x 254.6 x 31.8 cm)

COLLECTIONS Decorative Arts and Design

ACCESSION NUMBER 41.980.72c

CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. William E. S. Griswold in memory of her father, John Sloane

PROVENANCE 1882, purchased from Herter Brothers, New York, NY by John Sloane of New York; 1905, inherited from John Sloane by Adela Berry Sloane; 1911, probably inherited from Adela Berry Sloane by Evelyn Sloane Griswold (Mrs. William Edward Schenck Griswold) of New York; September 9, 1941, gift of Evelyn Sloane Griswold to the Brooklyn Museum.

Provenance FAQ

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Lower portion of chimney breast from mantel (41.980.72a-e). Brass frame surrounds fireplace opening has cornice along top edge and stepped molding around sides; surrounding frame is smooth green marble with white and black veining. Marble set within elaborately carved mahogany chimney breast made from separate carved and joined sections of wood: general rectangular shape with small recesses rectangular panels running horizontally at sides and also framing fireplace. In upper corners (below mantelpiece), recessed section with small rounded shelf. Thick mantelpiece with bowed front and rounded corners; front edge carved with decorative border of double dot alternating with inverted teardrop shape. Mantelpiece supported by brackets carved with scrolled ends and acanthus leaves: two large brackets at corners and six smaller brackets. [Photograph shows mantle in its original location, the library of the house of John Sloane, 883 Fifth Avenue, New York City, decorated by Herter Brothers, 1881-82.]

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, A Quiet Place

RECORD COMPLETENESS

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