An Important Louisiana Carved Mahogany and Cypress Armoire, late 18th/early 19th c., stepped cornice, flush-panel sides and doors with original brass escutcheons and fiche hinges, interior fitted with

An Important Louisiana Carved Mahogany and Cypress Armoire, late 18th/early 19th c., stepped cornice, flush-panel sides and doors with original brass escutcheons and fiche hinges, interior fitted with a belt of drawers and shelves, molded apron and cabriole legs with scroll toes on block points, height 89 1/2 in., width 62 1/2 in., depth 25 in. $10000/15000 Provenance: Descended in the family of Don Esteban de Quinones (Havana/New Orleans c. 1748-1815). Son of José Quinones and Doña Ann Emmanuelle of Madrid, Spain and husband of Marie Deurieux de Dupre (Illinois Territory/New Orleans 1758-1817). After their 1773 marriage, the Quinones household was at 623 Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Don Andres Almonester y Roxas was godfather to son Andre and daughter Gertrudis. Don Esteban served as Secretary to the Archbishop and as Royal Secretary and Notario of the "Indies, Islands and Firm Lands of the Ocean" for Carlos IV of Spain in 1797. A portrait of Don Esteban is illustrated in the Colonial Dames of America Louisiana Portraits, p. 219. Don Esteban is buried in the family tomb at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. A Spanish land grant to Don Esteban in East Feliciana Parish, near what is now the town of Clinton, became Oak Hill Plantation, the home of daughter Gertrudis, her husband, Richard Relf, and their descendants into the 20th century. Probable Line of Descent: Esteban de Quinones (Havana/New Orleans, 1748-1815) - to Maria Gertrudis de Quinones Relf (New Orleans, b. 1778) - to Annette Relf Chambers (New Orleans/Oak Hill Plantation, 1805-1879) - to James R. Chambers (Oak Hill Plantation, 1829-1911) - to William Mc Willie Chambers Sr. (Oak Hill Plantation, 1873-1948) - to William Mc Willie Chambers Jr. (Oak Hill Plantation, 1923-1981) - to the present owner. Note: As Dr. Jack Holden observes, the use of flush panels on the doors and sides of certain Louisiana armoires is indicative of cabinet making traditions in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) transmitted to southern Louisiana at the turn of the 19th century. A mahogany armoire found in Pointe Coupee Parish and now part of the Holden collection has a molded apron, cabriole legs, and scroll feet on small blocks nearly identical to those seen here. Reference: Holden. "Echoes of an Island Past: Flush Panel Armoires in Saint-Domingue and Louisiana," Southern Quarterly (Spring 2007), p. 125.