Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens has acquired 11 examples of rare Nineteenth Century, Texas-made furniture †a gift from Houston collector Williams James Hill. Most of the pieces have been on loan to Bayou Bend and on view in the Texas Room and Texas Hall, including an elegant armoire attributed to the workshop of Johann Michael Jahn, the New Braunfels cabinetmaker who is celebrated as one of the state’s preeminent furniture makers.
The gifts significantly strengthen the interpretation of the Texas Room, one of 20 unique room settings in the mansion given to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, by philanthropist Miss Ima Hogg (1882‱975). The estate is the museum’s American decorative arts center.
German-born, Jahn’s Texas aesthetic furniture is characterized by its delicate proportions and distinguished craftsmanship; armoires are considered among his greatest works. The armoire in the gift is related to one that has descended in Jahn’s family. Jahn (1816‱883) was born in Pomerania, apprenticed in Prague for five years, and then was employed as a journeyman in Switzerland.
He came to Texas in 1844 and eventually settled in New Braunfels. In addition to the armoire, five other pieces in the gift also are attributed to his workshop: a pair of side chairs, a server, a candlestand and a footstool, all in black walnut and dated 1846‱860.
The other objects, by anonymous cabinetmakers, also exemplify the quality of design and craftsmanship that is synonymous with the German cabinetmakers who migrated to central Texas in 1840s and 1850s. They are a center table in black walnut (1850‱870), a black walnut and pine table (1850‱860), a black walnut and pine chest of drawers (1845‱860), a cypress and cedar work table (1845‱860) and a black walnut and pine worktable (1845‱860).
The designs, like Jahn’s, are based on the European aesthetic, but executed in indigenous materials rather than the maple or fruitwood that would have been standard in Germany.
The 11 pieces of furniture join two earlier gifts from Hill and also includes a rare engraving, “Champ d’Asile,” which records a brief moment in Texas history as a group of Napoleonic loyalists established a colony along the Trinity River in 1818. It was engraved by Joseph Claude Pomel (1781‱839) after Charles Abraham Chasselat (1782‱843).
Bayou Bend, set among 14 acres of formal gardens and lush woodlands, is at 1 Westcott Street.
For general information, www.mfah.org/bayoubend or 713-639-7750.
