Paint Decorated Fireboard

New England, early 19th c.
Pine, Polychrome paint
Over-all in excellent condition, minor losses and surface abrasions to paint (bottom portion). Examined under ultra-violet light (see images). Mounted to later trestle-foot stand.
Provenance: Estate of Mina Curtiss, Weston, Connecticut; The Collection of Martha Hamilton.
This fireboard features a trompe-l’oeil painted image of a tiled fireplace surround framing a brick-lined chimney box with a vase of flowers placed within its center. The practice of placing floral arrangements in fireplaces during the 18th and 19th centuries was common during warmer months when they were not in use. The flowers were placed there in an effort to attract flies, deterring them from expensive looking glasses and other coveted possessions.
For similar examples see Nina Fletcher Little, American Decorative Wall Painting (Studio, 1989), p. 74, and Little by Little: Six Decades of Collecting American Decorative Arts (E. P. Dutton, 1984), p. 97, fig. 130. Little notes the artist’s “unmistakable style” has been recognized in several other New England fireboards.

27 ¾” h. x 38” w. x 10/16” d. (board), 29 ¾” h. x 38” w. x 12 ½” d. (with stand)

SOLD