Painted Settee

New York, ca. 1815-1825.

Paint decoration and stenciling possibly attributed to Christian Nestell, New York City.

Maple, tiger maple with painted and stenciled decoration, painted rush seat. There are minor repairs to arms and applied seat molding.  The paint decoration and stenciling are original and the piece also retains the first varnish.  Nestell probably spent the early part of his career ornamenting fancy furniture for New York firms.  He moved to Providence, Rhode Island, by 1822.  The stenciling on the settee closely relates to the trophy of music sketches found in Nestell’s drawing book (Winterthur Library:  Joseph Downs Collections of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera).