Kuntz "Louisiana Bedroom" ReinstallationLabel Copy for DocentsDecember 2015

LOUISIANA FURNITURE, 1800-1840The Rosemonde E. and Emile Kuntz Room

These Louisiana furnishings were made during the era when New Orleans transitioned from its Spanish and French colonial roots to becoming part of the rapidly-expanding United States of America. This was a newly "Americanized" city, with many cultures mingling together at the Mississippi River port. When architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe visited New Orleans in 1819, he noted that "everything had an odd look. It was impossible not to stare at a sight wholly new even to one who has traveled much in Europe & America."

This unique look is the most fascinating aspect of early Louisiana furniture. This gallery shows our region's mix of designs found in popular International styles (like Neoclassicism), but that are adapted to local New Orleans tastes and constructed with local materials. Objects in this room reflect Louisiana's "Creole-style" fusion of French, Spanish, West Indian, African, and Anglo-American histories. Before the mid-19th-century's inundation of goods shipped from afar (like the so-called "Yankee furniture" advertised in period newspapers), Louisiana offered a truly regional expression unlike what you will see in the rest of the United States.

The "Louisiana Bedchamber" gallery opened at NOMA in 1983, celebrating the Kuntz family's gift of Felix Herwig Kuntz's collection in memory of his parents, Rosemonde and Emile Kuntz. This presentation highlights important early 19th-century Louisiana furnishings assembled by Felix Kuntz (1890-1971), the first serious collector of historic American decorative arts in Louisiana.

1983 Installation 2015 Installation (in process)

John L. Boqueta de Woiseri (French, active New Orleans, c. 1798-1804)A View of New Orleans, November 5, 1803Aquatint with etching and watercolor Gift of Mrs. Emile N. Kuntz and the Family of Emile N. Kuntz, 82.216

This view of New Orleans from 1803 is one of the first known representations of this formerly French and Spanish colonial city as an American city, depicted under the wings of an eagle and flying the United States flag. As the new nation expanded westward in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the port of New Orleans and its control of Mississippi River passage was strategically important. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson and Robert Livingston, the U.S. Minister to France, negotiated the purchase of New Orleans and the large Louisiana Territory from France.

It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market, and from its fertility it will ere long yield more than half of our whole produce and contain more than half our inhabitants. France placing herself in that door assumes to us the attitude of defiance. -Jefferson in a letter to Livingston, April 18, 1802

Credit: 1903 map showing the Louisiana Purchase Territories (1803), U.S. National Archives

_________________________________

Louis Antoine Collas (French, active in Russia and the United States, 1775-1856)Portrait of a Free Woman of Color Wearing a Tignon, 1829Oil on canvasGift of Felix H. Kuntz, 49.2

Traveling French artist Louis Collas visited New Orleans at least six times in the 1820s, painting portraits and miniatures of the city's elite. In this painting we see an unidentified woman wearing a tignon, the turban-style headdress associated with women of African descent in Louisiana. During New Orleans's Spanish rule, a 1786 law intended to impose race separations mandated that both free and enslaved dark-skinned women to wear a head scarf to distinguish themselves from white women. Subverting the intent of the law, free women of color in New Orleans defiantly adopted the tignon in vibrant luxury fabrics for artistic self-fashioning, wearing them proudly as the woman does in this portrait.

Unfortunately, this portrait received harmful repair work in the 20th century. The extensive retouching altered the color significantly. However, given its significance as a rare depiction of a New Orleans free woman of color, it is on display with this information that the painting has been compromised as a historic object.

_________________________________

Unknown Artist (Possibly New Orleans)Portrait of Fray Antonio de Sedella (Père Antoine), ca. 1810Oil on boardGift of Mrs. Emile N. Kuntz and the Family of Emile N. Kuntz, 82.235

Unknown silversmith (Probably Spanish Colonial)Holy Water Font, ca. 1750-1800SilverGift of Mrs. Emile N. Kuntz and the Family of Emile N. Kuntz, 82.214

Père Antoine (Spanish, 1748-1829) was a Catholic religious authority in New Orleans from his arrival in 1774 until his death. He presided as the St. Louis Cathedral parish priest under the Spanish, French, and American governments. Père Antoine was a revered figure for his embrace of Louisiana's racially and culturally diverse people. At the same time, Père Antoine was controversial for his role in the religious and political chaos that followed the Louisiana Purchase, which required a new separation of church and state under United States law.

According to tradition, the silver water font belonged to Père Antoine.

_________________________________

American, LouisianaSide table, ca. 1800Spanish cedar with white pineGift of the Rosemonde E. and Emile N. Kuntz Collection, 78.201

This Louisiana table is made of Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata), a close relative of mahogany. This wood was commonly available in the Caribbean, and its use here indicates commercial ties between the two regions.

American, Louisiana, probably New Orleans"Creole" Armoire, ca. 1795-1820Mahogany, cherry, satinwood, and cypress secondary wood; original hingesGift of the Rosemonde E. and Emile N. Kuntz Collection, 78.200

Louisiana's 18th and early 19th-century armoires are the furniture form most closely associated with French design. These free-standing cupboards appear in the French colonies in Canada, the Mississippi River valley, and the Caribbean. Two distinctive elements from the French cabinetmaking tradition are the exposed "fiche" style hinges and the "false center stile". This cabinet's stile (or, vertical frame board) between the front doors appears to be part of the armoire's frame, but is actually part of the swinging left door, so is called "false."

American, Louisiana, probably New OrleansLadder-back chair, ca. 1780-1820Hickory or walnut, corn shuck seatGift of the Rosemonde E. and Emile N. Kuntz Collection, 78.203

_________________________________

American, LouisianaTilt-top table, ca. 1810-1840Poplar, cypressGift of the Rosemonde E. and Emile N. Kuntz Collection, 78.206

This is one of only two early 19th-century tilt-top tables known to have survived from Louisiana. There is evidence of small tack holes around the edge of the oval top, indicating that the table was at one time covered with oilcloth. This was a common French practice for tables of everyday use.

American, Louisiana, New OrleansHigh-post Bedstead, ca. 1790-1820Walnut, modern cotton bed hangingsGift of the Rosemonde E. and Emile N. Kuntz Collection, 78.205

This "Creole-style" high-post bedstead combines Louisiana influence and Europe's prevailing taste for Classical design (known as Neoclassicism). Its details in the Neoclassical style are the

inlaid wood swag and tassel decoration on the headboard and the elongated vase shape on the foot posts. The headboard's half circle arch shape (sometimes called "melon" shape) is unique to Louisiana bedsteads in American furniture. This arch shape is rare on French or English furniture, but is found on Spanish beds, chairs, and architecture, illustrating Spanish cultural influence in Louisiana.

American, South Louisiana (Acadiana)"ZACR" chest, ca. 1820Cypress, remnants of paint, brass ornamentGift of the Rosemonde E. and Emile N. Kuntz Collection, 78.207

This chest's lid has Canadian maple leaves carved into the Louisiana cypress wood. It is a poetic way of symbolizing its cultural origin in the southern parts of Louisiana associated with the Acadian (or Cajun) culture. The Acadians were descendents of those French-Canadians deported from Acadia (eastern Canada/Maine area) during the French & Indian War (1754-1763).

_________________________________

American, Louisiana"Campeche" chair, ca. 1820-30Mahogany, modern leatherGift of the Rosemonde E. and Emile N. Kuntz Collection, 79.407

This chair form has a history that criss-crosses time and culture. The side's X-shape originates in the ancient world--a Roman folding chair called a "curule seat" used by senior magistrates. The form came north to New Orleans through the Spanish colonies, and is often called a "Campeche chair" after Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula port city of the same name. In the south, however, the chair is sometimes referred to as a "plantation chair" after the style's popularity among wealthy planters in the 19th-century.

A Campeche chair can be seen in this view from Tremoulet's Hotel (now destroyed) in the French Quarter. This drawing is from the illustrated journal of Benjamin Henry Latrobe from his 1819/20 New Orleans visit. Latrobe (English, active America, 1764-1820) was the first American professional architect and oversaw construction of the U.S. Capitol in 1803.

Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, 1980.108.1.14.13

_________________________________

François Seignouret (French, active United States, 1783-1852)Lyre-back armchair, 1818Walnut, mahogany, tulip poplar, modern upholsteryGift of Rosemonde Kuntz Capomazza and Karolyn Kuntz Westervelt, 2003.212

This New Orleans armchair was made by French wine merchant/furniture maker François Seignouret for the St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square. City notarial records show a September 4, 1818 order by the church for six "fauteuils" (armchairs) from Seignouret.

The chair shows Seignouret's familiarity with contemporary Neoclassical design. The comparison images show chairs made by leading chair makers from the undisputed American furniture style center of the 1810s and 20s, New York City. All three chairs share a Classical lyre-shaped back rest, delicately splayed "Klismos" legs, and an overall lightness in form. Perhaps Seignouret and the New York makers were studying the same French style manuals and imported French chairs, or perhaps Seignouret was exposed to chairs imported to New Orleans from New York.

Attributed to Duncan Phyfe (Scottish, active New York City, 1770-1854), Side Chair, 1815-20. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the family of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Varick Stout, in their memory, 1965.188.2.

Attributed to Charles-Honoré Lannuier (French, active New York City, 1779–1819), Side Chair, 1815-19. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, The Sylmaris Collection, Gift of George Coe Graves, by exchange; and Bequest of Flora E. Whiting, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Moore, and Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, by exchange, 1996.366

_________________________________

New Orleans SilverUnlike the regional characteristics visible in the furniture on view in this gallery, New Orleans silver of the mid-1800s more closely matches styles produced elsewhere in the United States in the popular Rococo Revival style. The stamped marks on the undersides of these objects tell the story of commercial activity linking New Orleans to the Northeast and to Europe. Some of this pre-Civil War silver was crafted locally, often by German immigrant silversmiths like Himmel or Küchler. Other pieces were made by silversmiths in New York City, and then have additional marks showing they were sold at Hyde & Goodrich, the era's preeminent retail store in New Orleans. There was never a major silver-smithing industry in New Orleans, and after the Civil War local production ceased almost entirely as silversmiths could not compete with machine manufactured, stylish, and less expensive silver crafted by makers like Gorham & Co (Providence, RI) or Tiffany (New York).

Gale & Moseley, silversmith (New York, 1828–1833)Hyde & Goodrich, retailer (New Orleans, active 1829–1861)Tea Service, 1832Coin Silver Gift of Elise Newman Solomon, 86.69.a,.b Gift of Eugenia Uhlhorn Harrod in memory of her husband, Major Benjamin Morgan Harrod, 14.37, 14.38

This New York City made Tea Service is thought to be a wedding gift for New Orleanian Charles Harrod and his second wife, Mary Morgan, based on the sugar bowl's interior inscription: “1832 Charles Harrod New Orleans.” Charles and Mary's son, Benjamin Morgan Harrod (1837–1912), became a well known civil engineer who directed the 1902 construction of the New Orleans sewerage and water systems and was the consulting engineer for building the Delgado Museum of Art (NOMA) in 1910.

Benjamin Harrod's wife Eugenia Uhlhorn Harrod donated the teapot and waste bowl to the museum in 1914, but the full set was only reunited in 1986 when the sugar bowl became available at a local auction.

Anthony Rasch (American, b. Germany 1780–1858, active in New Orleans 1821–1858)Pair of Sugar Tongs, 1830Coin Silver 1989 Decorative Arts Discretionary Purchase Fund, 89.7

Hyde & Goodrich, retailer (New Orleans, active 1829–1861)Presentation Goblet, 1845–1855Coin Silver Gift of Eugenia Uhlhorn Harrod in memory of her husband, Major Benjamin Morgan Harrod, 14.41

The inscription reads, “EUH” standing for Eugenia Uhlhorn Harrod

Christopf Christian Küchler, silversmith (American, b. Germany, 1820–ca.1890)Hyde & Goodrich, retailer (New Orleans, active 1829–1861)Child’s Cup, 1853–1858Coin Silver Gift of Paul J. Leaman, Jr., 87.274

Adolphe Himmel, silversmith (American, b. Germany 1825–1877, active in New Orleans 1852–1877)Hyde & Goodrich, retailer (New Orleans, active 1829–1861)Presentation Goblet, 1854 Coin SilverGift of Patricia Martin Herod, in memory of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Martin, 2001.180

The inscription reads, “Presented to / William F. Brough, Esq. / By his friends of the city of New Orleans, LA / as a small token of their high esteem / for him as an Artist and a Gentleman / New Orleans, March 25, 1854”

Possibly Susan Turk (New Orleans, active 1856–1860)“Fiddle Thread” Berry Spoons, 1856–1860 Coin Silver Gift of Harvey and Betty Adele Jacobs Schwartzberg in memory of her parents Henry and Ethel Regina Landau Jacobs, 97.253.1,.2

Wood & Hughes, silversmith (New York, 1845–1899)Hyde & Goodrich, retailer (New Orleans, active 1829–1861)“Fiddle Thread” Tablespoon, 1845–1850 Silver Gift of Elise Newman Solomon, 86.79

Among the silver in this case, this tablespoon, on the right, is the exception for showing a clear regional style preference. Though made in New York City by silversmiths Wood & Hughes, the spoon is in the French flatware style with a flat edge at the tip of the bowl and high shoulders where the spoon meets the handle. Perhaps New Orleans retailer Hyde & Goodrich, whose stamp is also on the spoon, specially requested the style for their French-leaning customers.

"Fiddle head" is a term for the general spoon pattern where the handle goes from very narrow to very broad, like the shape of a fiddle.