Revere Auctions
Los 666
John Scott Bradstreet (American, 1845-1914). Entire room of Asian inspired "jin-di-sugi" carved cypress wood paneling including a fireplace and the ceiling. The fireplace with a carved panel of a sun among waves and two monopodial faux-legs with dragon heads and ball and claw feet. The wainscoting with carved panels, each depicting unique flora and fauna including: a crab, a dragon, lotus pods and flowers, water lilies, a bat, a kingfisher, chrysanthemums, and a turtle. There are a total of eight panels along the walls; two along each wall. The wainscoting is divided into three registers: a low horizontal lower register; a tall rectangular divided middle register; and a square upper register with alternating plain and carved panels. The ceiling with three beams and 12 panels; six panels slightly shorter than the length of the room due to the presence of the fireplace.Please note that this lot must be removed from its location by the end of August, 2023.Born in Massachusetts in 1845, John S. Bradstreet moved to Minnesota in 1873 and began working for the furniture firm Barnard, Clark, and Cope. With a heavy emphasis on late Victorian styles, Bradstreet felt that the items they were selling were too old-fashioned. Throughout the late 1870s and into the turn of the century, he worked with various partners to create furniture more in line with the growing popularity of the Gothic Revival and English Arts & Crafts movements. By 1901 he had founded his own business which focused primarily on his growing love of Asian inspired furniture and architecture - in particular, Japan. After opening the Minneapolis Crafthouse he was able to finally display and design his own works including his favorite line called "jin-di-sugi." This was a combination of Japanese carving techniques and American Arts & Crafts style, shown in the room offered in this lot.With his involvement in the growing aesthetic style of Minneapolis and as a heavy promoter of the arts in the city, he would go on to become one of the founders of the Minneapolis Fine Arts Society in 1883. This society would eventually evolve into the Minneapolis Institute of Art. He died only five months short of the institute's opening, and a room was opened in his honor, the John Scott Bradstreet Memorial Room, on January 7th, 1915.(Entire Room) 12 ft 2 in x 13 ft 2 in. (Mantle) height: 54 1/4 in x width: 76 in x depth: 25 in. Carved panel on mantle; height: 10 in x width: 13 1/4 in. (Wainscoting, 8 total panels) height ranges from 24 in to 54 1/2 in. [height ranges include below the window and include variance from panel to panel due to the room settling]. Total length of all wainscoting excluding the fireplace: 25 ft 10 in. (Carved panels excluding fireplace panel) height ranges from 10 in to 10 1/4 in; width ranges from 10 in to 11 in. (Chair rail) depth: 1 1/4 in.Condition: The wood in the room is in overall fairly good condition. There is light wear throughout as expected with a room of this age. Dust collected in the recessed areas of the works. There are small finishing nails throughout the wainscoting to affix the paneling to the wall of the room. There are four spaces for outlets, two spaces for light switches, and four areas where lights have been affixed to the panels. Several small areas where cord clips have been nailed/drilled into the paneling. There is one panel with an approx. 2 inch chip to the wood along the lower edge. The following carved panels have splits to the wood: the crab, the water lilies, the bat, and the chrysanthemums. The carved panel depicting a sun and waves along the mantle also has several splits along the center. There is wear to the top of the mantle. Numerous wax accretions, likely from candles, light scratches, a few small divots, dust, and an approx. 1 inch chip. Wear to the edges of the mantle throughout. There appears to be an extension added to the back of the mantle where it has been extended outwards to accommodate for modern use. This addition along the back measures approx. 8.75" x 63.25". There are six vents on the fireplace; two on either side and two along the top in the addition area.
