Lot 842 email save

VERY RARE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SULPHIDE FURNITURE KNO

VERY RARE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SULPHIDE FURNITURE KNOB, colorless lead glass featuring an embedded sulphide profile portrait of Franklin which is signed "GOBRECHT" across the lower edge of the shoulder, mounted in its original Britannia or pewter cap with screw shank. This knob, which is also recorded in a slightly smaller version, is well represented in major glass collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Corning Museum of Glass, the Winterthur Museum, and the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum. Bakewell, Page & Bakewell, or successors, Pittsburgh, or possibly the New England Glass Co. 1826-1845. 2" dia, 2 7/8" length overall.
Reference: For additional examples see Arlene Palmer's Glass in Early America, Selections from the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, p. 398, fig. 416, and Artistry and Innovation in Pittsburgh Glass, 1808-1882: From Bakewell & Ensell to Bakewell, Pears & Co., p. 61, and p. 165, Cat. 70, 71.
Provenance: Property of a gentleman.
Note: This left facing portrait of Franklin is based on the 1825 official medal of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. The design for the medal was submitted by the preeminent American portraitist Thomas Sully (1783-1872) and the die was prepared by Christian Gobrecht (1785-1844). The first medals were struck in 1826 and awarded to the 1825 Franklin Institute winners. Additional glass articles containing signed Gobrecht sulphides of Franklin include a cut glass decanter and tumbler, both of which are attributed to one of Bakewell's enterprises in Pittsburgh. The decanter is in the collection of The MMA and the tumbler resides at Corning.