Bama Planter

This lady arrived last week. The auction house didn't investigate what was under the linen covering on the back.  I removed it and found her name, details of her life, and the name and location of the artist.  This lovely girl has one of those wraps just like the one in an earlier post.  I am dating her ca.1835 until I hear from my clothing expert blog reader.  This matron was listed as American ca. 1850 or earlier.  A close up of a kind soul.  Everything a primitive collector could wish for.  Now here's a dandy guy holding a red rose.  

The furniture style known as Eastlake was created and manufactured roughly from 1870 to 1885,  fifteen years of complicated designs and geometric skill-saw work.  Rounds and squares on the same piece. Usually mahogany but not oak.  Oak obsession will come later.  Eastlake tables such as this beauty held parlor lamps, a live fern ( marble tops are good for live plants) , an over sized vase filled with two dozen ostrich feathers,  or maybe a bronze artwork.  The pretty marble might be covered in frilled table scarves. Maybe two, maybe three.  The furniture peeked out from beneath.   So what's the problem?   The problem is, Eastlake won't sell very well as Eastlake. As an antique trader, I avoid it entirely.  I won't buy it ;  no one here buys it unless it is dirt cheap.   So ,what can be done to make an Eastlake table marketable?  ( Besides painting it white or turquoise and then distressing it ) The answer:  saw the pedestal off and turn it into a coffee table.

This lovely lady has arrived in fine condition.  She measures 25 x 30.  Her head is so high in the painting I wonder if the canvas wasn't cut down sometime and might have been more of a 40 x 50 originally.   She was in the catalog as American, ca. 1800.   I suspect she is wearing a fashionable wig.  The frame appeared to be newer but when I saw the back I could tell it had some age also.   As usual, there are no identifying marks and no name of the sitter or the artist.