From different consignors and continents, a selection of remarkable and rare 18th century objects commemorating the great Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, have found their way back to Philadelphia where they will be featured in our April 30 American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts auction.
The first item, consigned from Italy, is a previously unrecorded portrait of Benjamin Franklin, attributed to the English portraitist Mason Chamberlin. Sharing many characteristics with the famous Chamberlin portrait of Franklin in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1956-88-1), the Founding Father is seated in his study, wearing a powdered wig and brown suit. One hand rests on an open book while the other holds his iconic folding spectacles. The contours of the face, cleft chin, and eyes are unmistakenly Franklin’s.
Attributed to Mason Chamberlin (English,1727-1787), An unrecorded portrait of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), circa 1778 | Estimate: $50,000 - $80,000
The portrait was acquired by the consignor in 1970 from a family friend, priest, and fellow collector, Don Ermanno Volta (1925-2016). Volta had purchased the portrait in Rome with an attribution to Pietro Longhi (Venetian, 1701-1785) and decided to sell it upon learning that the Longhi attribution was unsupported.
The portrait is joined by a unique, double-sided composition snuff box attributed to Jean-Martin Renaud and purportedly presented to Franklin by French King Louis XVI. One side depicts the mythical Fame carrying portrait medallions of the two Founding Fathers, “Franklin Wassington [sic].” The other side, entitled “Americana Prosperitas,” depicts a family group watched over by Mercury with a trading ship beyond.
Descending directly in the Bache-Scott Family to the present owner, the snuff box was included in the 1936 exhibition Benjamin Franklin and His Circle at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was illustrated in the accompanying exhibition catalogue. It is also illustrated in B. Stephens's, H. Lewis Bullen's, and W. Rowlands's The Pictorial Life of Benjamin Franklin (1923) and discussed in Charles Coleman Sellers’s Benjamin Franklin in Portraiture (1960), pp. 387-388.
A unique commemorative Neoclassical double-sided composition "Americana Prosperitas" snuff box, attributed to Jean Martin Renaud (French, 1746-1821), circa 1785 | Estimate: $5,000 - $10,000
The final item is an unglazed porcelain figural group depicting Louis XVI and Benjamin Franklin by Charles-Gabriel Sauvauge. It commemorates the treaties signed in 1778 by France and the United States, recognizing American Independence and guaranteeing trade rights between the two nations without British interference. Inscribed “Liberte Des Mers,” the king is shown in court dress in contrast to Franklin’s plain dress. Dating to about 1785, this figural group was included in the 1989 exhibition, La Revolution Francaise et L’Europe at the Musée de L’Impression sur Etoffes, Muhouse, France, no. 146.
A rare commemorative unglazed porcelain figural group of French King Louis XVI and Benjamin Franklin, attributed to Charles-Gabriel Sauvauge (French, 1741-1827), Niderviller Factory (France, active 1754-1827), circa 1780 | Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000
Featured Lots:
Lot 34 | Attributed to Mason Chamberlin (English,1727-1787), An unrecorded portrait of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), circa 1778
Lot 30 | A unique commemorative Neoclassical double-sided composition "Americana Prosperitas" snuff box, attributed to Jean Martin Renaud (French, 1746-1821), circa 1785
Lot 31 | A rare commemorative unglazed porcelain figural group of French King Louis XVI and Benjamin Franklin, attributed to Charles-Gabriel Sauvauge (French, 1741-1827), Niderviller Factory (France, active 1754-1827), circa 1780