Footnotes

• “King of Prussia marble” is not a true marble, but rather a form of limestone once quarried during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries near the Schuylkill River on the western edge of Philadelphia. Traces of magnesium give the stone its distinctive blue veins. First used in the 1730's for gravestones, this stone’s unique appearance, together with its fine quality and accessibility, made it a natural choice for Philadelphia architects and cabinetmakers. Its use was a source of regional pride and an indicator of wealth and refinement. It was used for the chimney piece and hearth in John Cadwalader’s Philadelphia townhouse, in the Philadelphia Merchant’s Exchange Building and the Second Bank of the United States, both designed by William Strickland, as well as in the Richmond Room, circa 1810, now seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  
  Tables with this “marble” have been attributed to the shops of many important Philadelphia cabinetmakers, including James Reynolds, Samuel Harding, Henry Cliffton and Thomas Carteret, and Nicholas Bernard and Martin Jugiez. The coveted stone was also exported to craftsman in other American cities, its use is seen on the important New York made Cortelyou Family Chippendale pier table, circa 1750-1770, for instance. References on cabinetmakers’ receipts to frames built to accommodate “a slab” demonstrate that this beautiful stone was meant to be the highlight of the finished product.
  
  By the middle of the 19th century, the quarries in the 58 mile limestone belt surrounding Philadelphia began to close. They were either depleted, or the stone was so deep that it became too expensive to mine. By the late 1800s the “King of Prussia marble” business was essentially over. The limited and aging supply of this unique stone is increasingly rare, as it is to find a complete slab with its original base such as the one offered for auction here.
  
  For more information, see R. Curt Chinnici, “Pennsylvania Clouded Limestone: Its Quarrying, Processing, and Use in the Stone Cutting, Furniture, and Architectural Trades” in the Chipstone journal American Furniture, 2002, Luke Beckerdite, editor.

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Category: Furniture / Fine Furniture and Works of Art

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