Clinton Howell Antiques
English antique furniture is more than a sum of its parts, but the parts are often varied and different so that the whole seems disconcertingly complex. There is a logic, of sorts, to English furniture, but there are also delightful eccentricities. I revel in them and will, for example, buy a great country piece as readily as a great high style piece, despite the obvious differences in decorative appeal. It is great furniture that appeals to me—it has to be special. I have been in this business in one form or another for thirty-nine years and there has never been a moment when I have wanted to do something else. Please browse, ask questions and, best of all, come and visit. I guarantee that you will find great beauty herein.
James Robinson
In 1912, James Robinson founded the firm bearing his name at 402 Madison Avenue in New York City where he specialized in Antique Silver and Antique Chinese Porcelains. After the First World War, he relocated to 721 Fifth Avenue at 57th Street and the firm remained in a one block radius of that site at 716 Fifth Avenue, 12 East 57th Street, and 15 East 57th Street until 1994 when it moved to its current location at 480 Park Avenue at 58th Street.
When James Robinson died in 1936, his brother-in-law, Edward Munves, succeeded him and was head of the firm until his death in 1983. Under his direction, the importance of Antique Silver was strengthened and a more significant emphasis was placed on English and French Porcelains and Glass. Edward Munves, Jr. joined the firm in 1952 and over the next decade jewelry was added to the inventory of top quality antique decorative arts. In addition, the firm expanded their unique collection of modern hand-made sterling silver. Carrying on the family tradition, Joan Boening joined her grandfather and father in 1979 and has been instrumental in elevating the Antique Jewelry collection to international prominence. She is now the president of James Robinson, Inc.
Today, the firm is best known for its outstanding Antique Jewelry of the 19th Century and Art Deco Jewelry of the 20th Century; Antique Silver of the 16th through 18th Centuries; Antique Porcelain services from England and the Continent; and Antique Table Glass. Also of note are the unique Handmade Sterling Silver reproductions in flatware, tea and coffee sets, candlesticks and trays which the firm produces today in the same manner in which they were crafted in the 18th Century. In every speciality, the main criteria in selecting objects are authenticity, workmanship, artistry, and condition, qualities evident in each article.
Michele Beiny, Inc.
Michele Beiny Harkins is a third generation antiques dealer. Her grandfather, Hanns Weinberg, founded the Antique Porcelain Company in London in 1946 and later opened galleries in New York in 1957 and Zurich in 1972.
Michele Beiny Harkins started her own gallery in 1987 in New York specializing in 18th and early 19th century English and Continental porcelain and European faience, as well as French furniture and decorations, objets de vertu, and renaissance jewels. More recently, she has added modern and contemporary ceramics and glass to her repertoire. She has exhibited at many international antiques shows including TEFAF Maastricht in the Netherlands, The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair and The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar in London, The Winter Show in New York, the International Fairs in Basel and Munich, and the Paris Biennale.
She is the Founder and President of the Board of the American Friends of the Wallace Collection.
For more information please see www.wallacecollection.org
MEMBER:
N.A.A.D.A.A.: The National Antique & Art Dealers Association of America, Inc
C.I.N.O.A: Confédération Internationale des Négociants en Oeuvres d’Art
B.A.D.A. British Antique Dealers’ Association
A La Vieille Russie
A La Vieille Russie, a family enterprise since its founding in Kiev in 1851, left the turmoil of the Revolution and was re-established in Paris around 1920 by Jacques Zolotnitsky, the grandson of the founder. The New York branch was opened in 1941 by the late Alexander Schaffer.
Still a multigenerational family business, under the direction of brothers, Messrs. Paul and Peter L. Schaffer, and Paul’s son, Dr. Mark Schaffer, A La Vieille Russie continues the tradition of dealing in fine art and antiques, and is known worldwide for its collection of Russian treasures. Goldsmith and jeweler Carl Fabergé was a client, and we are recognized today as international experts on his works. We specialize in European and American antique jewelry, 18th-century European gold snuff boxes, and antique Russian fine and decorative art, including silver, enamel, and porcelain, paintings, icons, and furniture.
We maintain a strong exhibition schedule, both as exhibitors and lenders. For example, we exhibit annually at TEFAF Maastricht in the Netherlands, New York’s Winter Antiques Show, Masterpiece London, and the New York International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show.
Dalva Brothers, Inc.
Dalva Brothers was founded in 1933 by Leon Dalva Sr. and his brothers. He and his wife Jean ran the gallery until they were joined by their sons David II and Leon Jr. The founder’s grandsons, David III, and most recently Adam are the third generation of Dalvas to work here. We have recently moved to a six story historic townhouse at 53 East 77th Street after over 60 years on East 57th Street.
Dalva Brothers has one of the finest and largest inventories of 18th century continental decorative arts in the world, including furniture, porcelain, clocks, and sculpture, displayed in period paneled rooms. We have sold pieces to interior decorators, collectors, dealers, and museums, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Louvre. Our collection ranges from masterpieces with royal provenance to beautiful but more accessible pieces that reflect the amazing craftsmanship and design skills of eighteenth century Europe.
Philip Colleck, Ltd.
Established in 1938, Philip Colleck, Ltd. specializes in very fine eighteenth and early nineteenth century English Furniture and works of art. We are located in midtown Manhattan in a pre-Civil War Landmark brick house at 311 East 58th Street, just east of Second Avenue. Two floors of exhibition space display our collection of William & Mary, Queen Anne, Georgian, Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton and Regency furniture, with an emphasis on lighting, chinoiserie, mirrors and screens.
All of our inventory is carefully selected and guaranteed in writing. We take pride in our stock and are always searching for pieces of exceptional quality with particular attention paid to fine color and patination.
Safani Gallery, Inc.
Safani Gallery Inc. was established in 1998. Specializing in museum quality works of art from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and the Near East, Safani Gallery Inc. holds a prominent position in the international market for ancient art.
Our clients include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts, the Freer Gallery of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Stuttgart Museum of Art, the Louvre, the J. Paul Getty Museum as well as other prominent public and private collections.
We exhibit annually at the Basel Ancient Art Fair, the Winters Antiques Show, and the Brussels Ancient Art Fair. Safani Galley Inc. is member of I.A.A.DA., I.A.A.A.T.A., and the Art and Antique Dealers League of America.
Alan Safani has been involved in the ancient art trade his entire life. As a child he frequently visited his father’s gallery and was fascinated by the beauty and history of the objects he handled. After college he got graduate degrees from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, majoring in Ancient Near Eastern and Classical art and archaeology with minors in Islamic and Egyptian art. Alan Safani is a recognized expert in the authenticity and value of ancient art from Eastern Mediterranean cultures.
Alan Safani has coordinated several exhibitions of ancient art, the most recent being The Art of the Cyclades , The Art of Rome, and Core Form: The Cyrus Collection of Core Form Glass Vessels. In addition, he publishes a yearly catalogue of objects for sale and appraises ancient objects for I.A.A.A.T.A.
Alan Safani is a third generation art dealer. His grandfather, Dr. Benjamin Abolghassem Mahboubian, a noted authority on ancient near eastern art, excavated extensively with the French in Iran in the 1930’s, notably Hamadan and Susa. Dr. Mahboubian assisted in more than a hundred excavations over a period of fifty years and was involved in the discovery of many of the known archaeological sites in Iran. Many of his discoveries have provided new information on the ancient Elamite culture of south western Iran. A number of objects from his collection are now in the major museums of the world.
Alan Safani’s father, Edward Safani, was the founder of Safani Gallery, one of the oldest galleries of ancient art in the United States. Edward Safani established Safani Gallery in 1946 and ran the gallery until his death in 1998. He was a noted authority on Islamic art, ancient glass and the art of the Ancient Near East and was often asked by museums, auction houses and dealers to authenticate ancient works of art. As a prominent dealer of Islamic art Edward Safani was instrumental in the creation of several major Islamic collections in America and Europe.
The Merrin Gallery
Samuel Merrin has been leading the gallery since 1987, taking over from his father, Edward Merrin, the gallery’s founder. Ed began his professional career in the family jewelry store, but “discovered” Pre-Columbian art on his honeymoon in Mexico and began collecting. At first, he used some of the objects for display purposes, highlighting them in their glittering cases. But one day, when a customer asked for the price of the ancient object rather than the jewel, a light bulb went off in Ed’s mind and he embarked on his life’s true career.
From its humble beginnings, sharing a space with the jewelry store, the gallery eventually moved to its current location and developed into one of the premier galleries of ancient art in the world.
Carswell Rush Berlin, Inc.
Carswell Rush Berlin, Inc. is a private antique furniture dealer in New York City specializing exclusively in top quality American formal furniture and decorative accessories of the first forty years of the 19th century, referred to as the Classical period.
The first classical revival since the Renaissance, profoundly influencing European art, architecture and all the decorative and applied arts beginning in the 2nd quarter of the 18th century, began to effect American furniture design in the same years that the United States was becoming a nation, hence the terms “Federal” and “Classical” furniture. It was this taste for designs inspired by ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt, as translated from English and French furniture design directories and pattern books by American cabinetmakers, which created the longest lived, most popular, most influential and, arguably, the most important period of American creativity and craftsmanship in our furniture making history.
The mission of Carswell Rush Berlin is to bring to the market important high-style examples from this classical period of Adam, Directoire, Empire and French Restauration furniture made in America’s leading fashion and furniture-making centers, Salem, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore in the years 1800-1840. We focus on pieces ordered from the greatest designers and cabinetmakers by the wealthiest strata of American society of the period.
The firm’s approach is highly selective, only buying for inventory examples that meet a high standard of design excellence, craftsmanship, quality of materials, original condition and rarity.
We are continually seeking to buy period examples of every form that meet these standards and welcome photographs sent by e-mail.
Each piece is extensively researched with the description supplied in writing. We offer to our clients an unconditional guarantee that each piece is as described.
Mr. Berlin has lectured at New York University’s School of Continuing Education where he is an adjunct professor. Mr. Berlin offers a course at NYU each Spring on early 19th century American furniture. He has lectured at the Parsons School of Design in New York, the prestigious Williamsburg Forum, the Detroit Institute of Art, The Saint Louis Museum of Art, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Boscobel and the symposium on American Classical Furniture at the Yale University Art Gallery.
His furniture has been featured in The Magazine ANTIQUES, Architectural Digest, House & Garden, Art & Auction, and Veranda Magazine. His essay entitled “Solid and Permanent Grandeur: The Design Roots of American Classical Furniture” is featured in the show catalogue for the International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show in NYC, October 18th-24th, 2002. His article “An Important Rosewood and Cast-Iron Gueridon Attributed to Duncan Phyfe” was published in The Magazine ANTIQUES, May 2000 issue (Vol. CLVII, NO. 5) pages 770-777. Mr. Berlin’s article “Classical Furniture in Federal Philadelphia” was published in Antiques & Fine Art Magazine, Spring 2007 vol. VII, Issue 5, p.192-199. Read the article online. His new article on the Philadelphia cabinetmakers COOK & PARKIN is planned for publication in 2012.
He is also writing a comprehensive guide to formal American furniture of the first half of the 19th century.
Mr. Berlin serves on the Board of Trustees of The Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages, (formerly The Museums at Stony Brook) (NY) and Spoleto Festival USA (Charleston, S.C.) He is a member of the prestigious National Antiques and Art Dealers Association of America (NAADAA) and the Antique Dealers Association of America (ADA). A graduate of Kenyon College, he founded Carswell Rush Berlin, Inc. in 1992 to serve museums and collectors. The firm’s clients include:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY)
Museum of Fine Arts , Boston (MA)
Colonial Williamsburg (Va)
The Columbus Museum (Ga)
The Governor’s Mansion of the State of Texas (Austin)
Peabody Essex Museum (Ma)
Museum of Fine Art/Houston (Tx)
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Va)
The White House (DC)
Detroit Institute of Art (MI)
RISD Museum
The Brooklyn Museum (NYC)
Gracie Mansion (NYC)
Winterthur (Del.)