Winter Antiques Show to Exhibit Historic New England

Schwarz Gallery Portrait (Courtesy of Winter Antiques Show)

The 56th Winter Antiques Show is set to take place January 22 to 31 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, according to a press release.

The 2010 Winter Antiques Show features over 110,000 pieces from Historic New England, the “oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation,” which will be celebrating its centennial.

“We are honored to showcase these outstanding pieces from Historic New England as this year’s loan exhibition. The breadth of the works on display—from 18th century furniture to Bauhaus design—complements the variety of great material that our exhibitors bring each year,” said Arie L. Kopelman, Winter Antiques Show Committee Chairman.

The Winter Antiques Show was founded in 1954 to benefit the East Side House Settlement, a social service organization that supports families and community development.

The exhibit will feature items from the 18th to the 20th centuries, including furniture, paintings by academic and provincial artists, ceramics made in New England and abroad, and personal accessories from diamond brooches to silk brocade shoes. “Superb objects with great stories,” are emphasized. One such example is the Quincy family’s Boston-made Japanned high chest, “tour de force of 18th century furniture, which belonged to one of New England’s most influential families,” according to the press release.

Highlights of the show include a Needlework Picture, circa 1745-1750 from Boston, Massachusetts of wool on linen, silk, glass beads. The exquisite piece is the largest of a group of needlework scenes called Fishing Lady pictures which hung at author James Russell Lowell’s house, Elmwood, in Cambridge, Massachusetts during the nineteenth century.
Also of interest are brocade shoes from London, circa 1770. The shoes with silver and paste buckle interestingly have no right or left but were made to be interchangeable.

Also to be exhibited is Art Pottery Vase and Bowl made by Paul Revere Pottery in Boston. The vase and bowl in the Arts and Crafts style are made in a “remarkable experiment in social engineering, carried out by and for women. The Paul Revere Pottery was both a literary club for immigrant girls and a pottery studio that taught marketable skills and enabled them to earn a living,” according to the press release.

More brief descriptions taken from the release follows:

“Psyche,” by Hiram Powers, from Florence, Italy, circa 1849. After Nathaniel Hawthorne saw this bust in the artist’s studio, he rhapsodized: “A light…seems to shine from the interior of the marble, and beam forth from the features.” Powers’ sculpture evoked classical ideals of female beauty and had great appeal in the nineteenth century.

A sewing Kit from England, circa 1765-90 is a silver fish with a small knife and scissors for sewing. It belonged to Abigail, patriot Josiah Quincy’s wife, and reflects both the useful work required of everyone in New England—in this case an endless round of sewing and mending—as well as the relative comfort in which Mrs. Quincy lived.

The TAC 1 Tea Set manufactured by Rosenthal in Selb, Germany in 1969 made of porcelain. The tea set, introduced in 1969, was the result of collaboration between Walter Gropius and modeler Katherine De Sousa. Its simple geometric form and suitability to mass production aptly reflect Bauhaus ideals.

The Winter Antiques Show
January 22-31, 2010 
Park Avenue Armory
67th Street and Park Avenue, New York City.
Hours: 12:00 to 8:00 p.m. daily, except Sundays and Thursday, 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.

To learn more, visit www.winterantiquesshow.com. To purchase tickets for the Opening Night Party on Thursday, January 21, or the Young Collectors’ Night on Thursday, January 28, please call [phone] or visit the Show’s Web Site.