A Summary of the Egerton Family and Their Furniture: What's Attributable, What's Not

by David A. Sperling

(This is the third in a three-part series.)

Matthew Egerton, Sr. and Jr., of New Brunswick, New Jersey, created some of the most elegant formal and country/formal furnishings for early America. They used the finest woods and matching veneers. Their cabinetwork, especially the clock cases, possessed superb form, line, and proportion. Their carvings and inlay work were characterized by restraint and balance. By achieving a unique equilibrium between the heavily decorated and the unadorned, the final result is a simple kind of grandeur.

Their labeled pieces have always been highly sought after by collectors of Americana. Over the years a significant number of clocks and case pieces without labels have been attributed to the Egerton shop. Some of this furniture merits the attribution, while others do not. It must be acknowledged that the most certain method for arriving at a correct attribution is the close examination by a learned cabinetmaker of the inside of a piece in question. I have neither that expertise nor do I have direct access to the objects evaluated. Therefore, the reader will please understand that I rely completely on styling and outward appearance in making the following attribution decisions.

-Attributions

In evaluating New Jersey clock cases, I have heard a comment repeatedly, "This is a Scudder case or this is an Egerton case." In the July 2007 issue of M.A.D., I discussed the Scudder case style, which developed over three distinct periods spanning a quarter century (1790-1815). A proper evaluation should always include comparing the period of dial development along with the features of the case.

It becomes a bit easier to recognize Egerton styling in their clocks, as opposed to their furniture, since most of their labeled cases fall into a narrower range of years. The majority were produced in the last decade of the 18th century, with some spillover into the first decade of the 19th century. Once again, assigning the proper age to the dial helps greatly with the dating of the case. One should always refer to the working dates of the clockmakers with whom the Egertons associated.

Following are general features to bear in mind: a) none of the Egerton clock cases had a delicate, pinched waist; b) all had a door running the full length of the waist; c) none used an Irish panel below the waist door; d) few made use of overly elaborate inlay; and e) all had wonderfully elegant form.

Figure 23. Unsigned New Jersey tall-case clock with classic Egerton Federal features, 1795-80. Courtesy C.L. Prickett Antiques, Yardley, Pennsylvania.

-Clock One

To begin, there are attributions that remain so certain, they might as well have a label. The example pictured in figure 23 illustrates all of the Federal Egerton traits. The only additions are the use of vertical ovals in the plinths supporting the waist columns and the use of the Liberty cap and pole theme in the tympanum (Fig. 23a). (Perhaps this clock was made as a presentation piece for a noted patriot.) Note how nicely the inlaid keystone fits below the cap and pole, the modest size of the carved rosettes, and the very moderate break in the arch itself. The feet are classic Egerton (Fig. 23b) as are the form and proportions of the case. The dial is English and period one (1790-1800). The clock dates from 1795-1800. A great clock and a perfect attribution.

Figure 23b. Feet of figure 23. Demonstrates Egerton shaped foot and heel. Heel resembles face of a man with goatee in profile. Extra pad at base of foot.

Figure 24. Unsigned New Jersey tall-case clock. Note three inlay motifs and Irish panel. Note the width of the waist in relation to the hood and base. Private collection.

-Clock Two

This unsigned Federal period New Jersey clock (Fig. 24), 1800-10, from a private collection was sold at auction as "case attributed to Egerton." The clock is handsome and nicely inlaid with a vase of flowers, a conch shell, and a New York/New England eagle in the base. It contains an Irish panel in the waist with beaded stringing surrounding the shell inlay. It has straight bracket feet with a fancifully shaped skirt. These are generally not Egerton features. The broken arch pediment has a higher thrust than the Egerton examples, and it contains a Nolen & Curtis dial, which appears to date to the second decade of the 19th century. Very fine clock, wrong attribution. The clock case bears some resemblance to cases made in several northern New Jersey towns.

-Clock Three

In Peter Wisbey's thesis, he mentions a Peter Lupp clock with a "questionable attribution" to the Egertons. The clock (Fig. 25) was from the Sack collection, and there is a similar unlabeled example at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Wisbey mentions that the clock contains a "doctored Egerton" label, which may have been applied later but also has what appears to be a genuine handwritten note indicating that the brass works were made by the Lupp family of New Brunswick. The form of the case is majestic and the proportions quite fine.

The case has many Egerton features: the use of typical bookend inlay; triple string inlay; classically shaped bracket feet with sharply curved heel spurs and extra padding at the base of the foot; the use of four-leafed fans; and the use of six sets of bookend inlay in the central part of the frieze above the waist door. It also has gilded small rosettes in the terminals of the arch and a bisecting corbel in the center of the tympanum with a small inlaid keystone below. The high tympanum is decorated with painted leaves and vines in a style seen in New York City at the end of the 18th century. The English dial and hands date from the late 1790's. This is another beautiful clock, almost assuredly in an Egerton-made case.

Figure 25. Attributed Peter Lupp tall-case clock, New Brunswick, New Jersey, circa 1795-80. Floralpainted scroll board, modest break in arch, full-length door,use of fan and bookend inlay. Courtesy Israel Sack Antiques, Inc.

Figure 26. Unsigned New Jersey tall-case clock. Note Irish panel with inlaid eagle, depth of the broken arch with deep curl in terminals, and inlaid fluted urn below central finial. Inlaid keystone sits above the cornice. Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State.

-Clock Four

Back in the early 1970's June and Joseph Hennage donated one of their clocks to the formal rooms at the U.S. Department of State. The case had been attributed to the Egerton cabinet shop. This unsigned clock, pictured in figure 26, is a beautifully crafted Federal example with inlaid compass stars in the terminals, fluted urn inlay in the tympanum below the center finial, a shield-shaped door, and short French feet with stringing in the base. Note that the keystone in the tympanum stops at the arched cornice above the dial door rather than extending down through it in the Egerton fashion. An Irish panel below the waist door is inlaid with a New York/Boston-style eagle (Fig. 26a), a feature not seen on any of the labeled Egerton clock cases. The face is a period two English painted iron dial dating the clock to about 1800-10. The case has a slightly thick waist. The base has plain corners, i.e., no columns or chamfering.

My impression is that this case was created in one of two regions. The first would be in the cabinetmaking centers of northern New Jersey, such as Hackensack and Paterson. These were areas where the cabinetmakers generously employed the use of inlay motif and often used more than one on a clock case. They also tended to create a relatively wider waist section than the cases made in Elizabethtown, Westfield, and New Brunswick.

The second possibility is that this is a New York City clock, perhaps out of the shop of Sayre & Richards, working circa 1805. They used a slightly wider waist section than seen in Elizabethtown or Westfield, more like the cases in Hackensack. They also liked to use star inlay in the tympanum and might well have chosen navigational stars in the broken arch terminals. The drooping of the terminals of the arch down into the broken arch itself was often found in New York City and in northern New Jersey clock cases. Generally, Egerton made arch terminals that rode high up relative to the top of the swan's neck pediment. It is unlikely that this clock has an Egerton case.

Figure 27. Aaron Lane, Elizabethtown, New Jersey, tall-case clock, 1797. Engraved brass dial, punctuate scroll board, full-length waist door, and inlaid chamfered base. Hergonson & Werner Antiques, New York, 1977.

-Clock Five

Clocks five and six are closely related examples, circa 1800. The first, an Aaron Lane, Elizabethtown, clock (Fig. 27), exhibits a typical Lane thin, engraved brass dial (Fig. 27a) and an oval plaque in the tympanum with initials and the date 1797 (Fig. 27b). This clock was thought to have been made as a presentation piece for a wedding. The case features a later New Jersey Federal style: it is fully veneered and inlaid; has a shield-shaped door; and has robust French flared feet. The apron between the feet is straight.

The Egerton features one sees in this case are the proper punchwork scroll board, substantial waist with full-length door (no Irish panel), plentiful bookend inlay, and a return to using chamfered corners in the base (Fig. 27c).

Rarely are chamfered sides found in the bases of high-style Federal New Jersey clock cases. The edges are usually straight. Found on these chamfered corners is stringing in the form of intersecting loops. The waist column plinths are lined with light rectangular stringing, and there are horizontal ovals found in the frieze above the door (Egerton appears to use this more often circa 1800 and later). A definite Egerton.

Of horological interest is the fact that Aaron Lane (1753-1819) continued to use his homemade engraved brass dials well into the late 1790's; most other makers were using the English painted iron dial by around 1790-92. Therefore, finding a Lane brass dial in a mid-Federal period clock should not be considered as a clock case and clock movement having been married or being together "by association."

Figure 27a. Hood of figure 27. Note thin brass dial engraved by Aaron Lane. Use of bookend inlay, presentation plaque, and inlaid colonettes.

Figure 27b. Detail of hood of figure 27. Presentation plaque containing “Nov. 1797” with initials “A.W.” Punctuate scroll board, bookend inlay, and inlaid keystone in cornice above dial door.

Figure 27c. Base of figure 27. Flared French feet and chamfered corners inlaid with intersecting light stringing.

Figure 28. Unsigned New Brunswick, New Jersey, musical tall-case clock, circa 1815, attributed to Leslie & Williams. Flared French feet and cyma-shaped apron, chamfered corners with floral inlay at intersections of light stringing, punctuate scroll board, and modest broken arch. Terminals dip down into the arch. From the collection of the Henry Ford Museum.

-Clock Six

A famous musical clock with works attributed to Leslie & Williams (because of the types of tunes it plays) is pictured in William Drost's book Clocks and Watches of New Jersey, page 153 (Fig. 28). This Egerton-attributed case was made post-1800 (Arabic numerals on the painted dial) and shows classic features: the punctuate scroll board with small rosettes; the full-length waist door; the inlaid chamfered sides of the base; and the overlapping disc inlay in the plinths supporting the waist columns. Egerton used strings of disc inlay on other furniture forms, as seen on the leg of a sideboard (Fig. 29). Delicate floral and loops of scroll inlay seen on the chamfered edges of the base are reminiscent of that found in clock five.

Figure 29. Leg of labeled Egerton sideboard with string of overlapping disc inlay and banding at bottom of leg. Ex-collection Professor Sidney Cook. Antiquarian magazine, December 1930.

What is new here is the greater delicacy of the flaring French feet and the wonderful Scudder-like apron between them. Features not typical of Egerton work: the spare string inlay in the frieze above the door; the dropping of the terminals down into the broken arch itself; the overly large triangular keystone in the arched cornice; and the beaded stringing in the waist and base. Egerton string inlay was usually continuous and consisted of three lines (light, dark, light). Still, this is most likely an Egerton case, which demonstrates how the Egertons updated their styles in order to adapt to changes in popular taste.

As an aside, I have a problem with the attribution of this clock to Leslie & Williams. Since there is no name on the dial, it was apparently given this attribution based upon the songs that the musical works played, as mentioned above. The first thing that strikes me is that the dial has Arabic numerals (post-1800) and has minute markers every fifteen minutes, not every five. This is a feature of later Federal dials, post 1815-20. The hands are Federal-style diamond hands, commensurate with the age of the dial.

As noted in an earlier section, the partnership of Leslie & Williams ended before 1800. William J. Leslie did continue to make clocks in Trenton until 1817. It may just be that he called upon his old friend in New Brunswick, Matthew Jr., to create this case for an upscale client. One might consider a reattribution of this clock to William Leslie of Trenton. I have seen several examples of the cabinetry of his Trenton clocks, and none were as high style as this one. The cases were much more in the country or Pennsylvania rural style. Despite the incorrect attribution to Leslie & Williams, the case does appear to be properly attributed to the Egertons.

Figure 30. Unsigned New Jersey tall-case clock with Nolen & Curtis dial dating to circa 1810. Traditional “high-style” Federal New Jersey case made in the style of John Scudder. Photo courtesy Mark of Time (auction), Sarasota, Florida.

-Clock Seven

I show this unsigned clock (Fig. 30), a classic example of high-style Federal New Jersey cabinetry, simply to point out that the Egertons never made this type of case (at least to my knowledge). These were cases that were made by many sophisticated New Jersey cabinet shops, including those of Scudder, Parsell, Rosette & Mulford, John Tappan, and others. They were of beautiful form and proportion and of great delicacy, but they were not Egerton products.

-Clock Eight

There has been a rumor of a Joachim Hill (at work in Flemington after 1804) clock with a labeled Egerton case. This rumor was tracked down to a clock in the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society (Fig. 31). Its form is similar to clock seven, and it is heavily inlaid with satinwood. A band of satinwood runs down from each lateral finial plinth and then arches over the cornice of the hood. Conch shell paterae fill the frieze above the waist door as well as being placed centrally in the door. Light-colored satinwood inlay fills most of the Irish panel.

Inside the case there is a label. It is not, however, the label of the cabinetmaker. It is the label of a well-known furniture dealer, now deceased. On it, written in pen and apparently in the hand of that dealer, it states, "Case attributed to Matthew Egerton." End of rumor! Given current information, Matthew Egerton Jr. never made a clock case for Joachim Hill.

-Sideboard

The sideboard pictured in figure 32, from the M. and M. Karolik collection, purchased in 1938, currently resides in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The piece is attributed to Egerton by Edwin J. Hipkiss in his book Eighteenth-Century American Arts: The M. and M. Karolik Collection (1941). The attribution is based on its similarity to a labeled Egerton serving piece at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (pictured in Nutting, Volume 1, item #753).

It is the differences that strike me. The legs of the Karolik sideboard are more finely tapered and less sturdy looking than the Egerton. The bellflower inlay is applied in a different manner. Upright rectilinear stringing is noted in the legs and sides of the Egerton piece, whereas the Karolik sideboard has upright ovals. Alternate light and dark beaded inlay lines the lower edge of the case in the Karolik piece but is simple light stringing in the Egerton. Finally, the Egerton quarter-fans have four contiguous leaves whose ends are cut in a concave manner, the tips of each leaf touching the outer arc of stringing. The Karolik sideboard has shaped leaves with flat ends that often do not reach the outer arc of string inlay and have spaces between each leaf. (Fig. 32a). The MFA has properly attributed its sideboard to a New York cabinetmaker, not to Egerton.

-Pembroke Table

In the January 2009 Americana sale at Christie's, a Pembroke table (Fig. 33) bore an Egerton attribution. Its form is strikingly similar to the Bernard & S. Dean Levy table noted in part two of this article. The legs have a sturdy appearance; the table has graduated bellflowers in the upper legs, banded inlay at the bottom of the legs, paterae done in the Egerton manner flanking the single drawer, and simple light-colored stringing along the edges. Similar form, stringing, and shaped patera inlay are also found on a Pembroke table by Fenwick Lyle of Middletown, New Jersey (1767-1822). (See labeled Lyle table, figure 320, page 193, of 1976 exhibition of the New Jersey State Museum, below.) Attribution should be to a central New Jersey cabinetmaker with Egerton as one likely possibility.

Please feel free to forward any questions or comments to me at <horology@att.net>.

Acknowledgements: Christie's, New York City; Tim Decker, collections manager, New Jersey Historical Society, Newark; Edward King, Bay Head, New Jersey; Todd Prickett of C.L. Prickett Antiques, Yardley, Pennsylvania; Erin Schleigh, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Alan Snyder, Stewartsville, New Jersey.

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