Furniture by and attributed to Duncan Phyfe, including a secretary-bookcase beneath an oil by George Caleb Bingham, fills the Green Room of the White House.
Duncan Phyfe. Taken aside the question of how his last name should be spelled (Phyfe is correct by the way), his style of furniture has come to be instantly recognizable and his admirers and detractors legions. Who was this man and why do people have such strong feelings about his furniture?
A New York cabinetmaker, Duncan Phyfe (1795-1856) made fashionable furniture for the carriage trade of the day. Phyfe was born in 1768 in Loch Fannich, Scotland, and immigrated with his family to Albany, New York in 1783. It is believed he served an apprenticeship in Albany before moving to New York City around 1792.
Part of the red hot passion surrounding Phyfe is due to the fact that there is no actual “Duncan Phyfe” style of furniture. Early Phyfe pieces were American interpretations of European and English Louis XVI, Adam, Hepplewhite, Directoire and Sheraton styles. Because there is so much similarity between the styles, they are often lumped together under the name Early Empire. Here in the United States, the style became known as Federalist.
It was in this early period that Phyfe’s genius as a furniture maker was evident. As one writer noted “Phyfe’s work was as good in design as that of the great English cabinet makers of the eighteenth century.” His strength in furniture design was in his fine sense of proportion and his restrained use of decorations. Phyfe was particularly noted for his furniture’s graceful, flaring lines and his ability to employ such subtle curves that sometimes they appeared straight. Among the more distinctive attributes of Phyfe’s pieces is the lyre shape, which appears on chair backs and pedestal supports, and the tripod table. Popular motifs which appear throughout his work include lion’s paws, and natural elements such as wheat, leaves, and rosettes.
His favorite medium was mahogany because his designs required a wood with both lightness and strength. Almost all of Phyfe’s furniture from his early period is made of mahogany.
Phyfe was also one of the first American cabinetmakers to successfully use the factory method of manufacturing furniture – at one point he had almost 100 working craftsman in his shop. In 1837 he took two of his sons, Michael and James, into partnership as Duncan Phyfe and Sons. The firm name was changed to Duncan Phyfe and Son after the untimely death of Michael. Many of New York’s leading citizens were his customers, and several examples of Phyfe’s early work are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Green Room of the White House also contains pieces of Duncan Phyfe furniture.
Most would agree that Phyfe’s fine, well-constructed and tastefully executed furniture declined as later Empire styles became popular. Furniture designs in his final period became heavy, over ornamented and to a great degree characterless. Phyfe himself summed up the quality of his firm’s late work with the phrase “butcher furniture”.
Phyfe’s imprint upon the furniture of New York was so great, that literally hundreds of pieces made by other cabinetmakers are attributed to him. Today, though many examples of actual Duncan Phyfe furniture remain, there value is likely to be in the thousands of dollars. A Duncan Phyfe sewing table, for example, was listed on the Internet for $93,000. What some antique dealer s refer to as Duncan Phyfe may actually be a Sheraton style piece of furniture or should be more accurately termed “in the style of” Duncan Phyfe.
As with anyone who as seen great success, both the best and the worst of his style came to be exemplified. Whether you love or despise his style of furniture, Phyfe’s genius at creating a look that was uniquely American and mass producing it will forever ensure his legacy.
Interesting read, thanks! I finally see the larger picture
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later
Had difficulty viewing the website in Firefox on the Mac, but I still loved the site.
How fascinating! This was a well-written piece, thanks for the article.
I believe you just make the idea. I would state this really is just a great post that i maintained to locate. I actually do hope that more individuals will have a chance to see in the following paragraphs and for sure they will find some good benefit from it.
Hi there, I found your blog via Google while searching for first aid for a heart attack and your post looks very interesting for me.
I truly appreciate all the tough labor that you have done keeping this blog around for all of us. I honestly hope this is online for a nice long time.
Great site and nice text.
Hi, I stumbled across your site through Yahoo and just wanted to say that I really like it. I’ll definitely be bookmarking it!
Very informative submit, love the way you write and I think that the data helps in a way. I do not normally say this, however I feel this is a great job done. In the event you prefer to trade links, I’d be very happy to supply a link back to your site. Hope to listen to from you soon. Cheers
Here’s a comment. Great advice =) Thanks
I will use your advice from now on. Jaap
Being a new blogger, I would like to tell you that you have given me much knowledge about it. Thanks for everything.
Mr.parts tools
Nice to be visiting your site again, it has been months for me. Well this article that i’ve been waited for so long. My partner and i need this article to complete my assignment inside the college, as well as it has same topic with your article. Thanks, great share.
I just wanted to comment and say that I really enjoyed reading your blog post here. It was very informative and I also digg the way you write! Keep it up and I’ll be back to read more in the future
Took me time to read all the comments, but I actually loved the article. It proved to be very useful to me and I am positive to all the commenters right here as well! It’s all the time nice when you can’t solely learn, but also entertained! I’m certain you had fun writing this blog.
I just wanted to comment and say that I really enjoyed reading your blog post here. It was very informative and I also digg the way you write! Keep it up and I’ll be back to read more in the future
Congratulations – you’ve just rated a new admirer
I found your weblog on google and browsed some of your additional blogposts. I just now included you to my personal Google News Reader. Keep up the excellent work. Will enjoy reading much more of your stuff in the future.
Hey, I think your really on target with this, I wouldn’t say I totally agree , but its not really that big of a deal .
Need to subscribe to this blog, great post. Found it on bing.
Thanks for this great website. I am trying to read some more posts but I cant get your website to display properly in my Opera Browser. Thanks again.
Amiable dispatch and this mail helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you on your information.
Great site and nice text.
Great text and nice blog.
This is good- a worthy posting.
Great points…I would note that as someone who really doesn’t write on blogs much (in fact, this may be my first post), I don’t think the term “lurker” is very becoming to a non-posting reader. It’s not your fault in the least , but perhaps the blogosphere could come up with a better, non-creepy name for the 90% of us that enjoy just reading the content .
Thank you so much for sharing all of the excellent content! I am looking forward to reading more blogs!