Furniture: Breakfront bookcase made for P. T. Barnum by Julius Dessoir
Breakfront bookcase from P. T. Barnum's first Bridgeport home, Iranistan. The bookcase is part of a suite of furniture made by Julius Dessoir, a New York City cabinetmaker, between about 1846 and 1848. The set, which includes chairs, a library table, a settee or recamier-style sofa, and a desk, was made for Barnum's personal library. The style is referred to as Chinoiserie, a French word that refers to the aesthetic of Chinese decorative arts. During the 19th century in Europe and America, Chinoiserie was a popular style that drew upon elements of Chinese decorative arts, applying them to European forms of furniture. This suite by Dessoir is a variant of the style in that it includes fantastical creatures not traditional to Chinoiserie. In that regard, the carvings reveal Barnum's own personal taste, as well as the skill of the furniture maker.
The impressively large bookcase is made from a type of wood called tiger maple named for the striping in the grain. In addition to its four glass doors with cabinets below, the bookcase features elaborate and detailed carving, especially along the top. Perched at the top of the bookcase is a carved bird resembling a peacock or possibly a pheasant, both species native to China. A pediment below the bird is flanked by two dolphin type figures with large heads. On the front of the pediment, between the dolphins, is a pair of entwined creatures combining the features of dragons and snakes. (A similar design also appears on the library table that is part of this set.) The top of the bookcase also features bands of fretwork, an interlaced geometric pattern resembling an elaborate "fence." Many carved elements are repeated throughout the bookcase, such as small bells that hang like tassels, and curled "roofs" reminiscent of a Chinese pagoda. Delicate bands of wood are applied to the glass doors, a type of decoration called tracery. Flat columns called pilasters run vertically between the doors and on the sides of the cabinets. They feature obelisk shapes with finely carved areas that have a textural appearance like drooping feathers or pendant leaves.
Julius Dessoir was a Prussian emigre who came to America in the 1840s, and was naturalized on October 19, 1852. The first listing of his work as a cabinetmaker appears in the 1842-1843 New York City directory. His furniture workshop was located on Broadway, as was Barnum's American Museum. Dessoir became well known for his decorative carving, and his work was exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1853 in New York City. Other examples of Dessoir's work can be found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dessoir's work for Barnum was done within the first decade of his arrival in America. Barnum had returned from a three-year tour of Europe in 1846 and was anxious to build an "oriental villa" as the family home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Iranistan, as he named it, was designed in the Moorish revival style by Leopold Eidlitz, but was very closely modeled after the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, England. The mansion, which sat on 17 acres and was built at a cost of $100,000, but lasted only ten years (1848-1857), as it burned to the ground in December of 1857. The fire broke out in the middle of the night. Barnum and his family were not occupying the home then and it seems more likely the Dessoir suite was located elsewhere rather than the furniture being pulled from the burning house, especially something the size of the breakfront-bookcase. However, contemporary descriptions do note that precious items were saved. The set was donated to the museum in 1888 by Barnum and his second wife, Nancy Fish Barnum.