An extremely rare and fine 19th century ash burl treen footed bowl with crisply carved gadrooned frieze featuring sumptuous, bulbous lobes interspersed with six small 'chip-carved style' hearts, raised on a turned and ebonized maple pedestal stem atop a widely spreading turned and well-figured maple foot, in the form of a neo-classical tazza, found in Saint John, New Brunswick
first half of the 19th century
 
Provenance:
From the personal collection of Henry & Barbara Dobson (Plattsville, Ontario)
 
Illustrated:
Dobson, Henry & Barbara "Heritage Furnishings of Atlantic Canada: A Visual Survey with Pertinent Points" (2011) illustrated on the inside front cover and on page 313.
 
This 19th century tazza of exceptional quality was found in Saint John, New Brunswick. The crisply carved gadrooned ash burl frieze featuring sumptuous, bulbous lobes interspersed with six small 'chip-carved style' hearts between the lobes, the wide and beautifully figured ash bowl raised atop a very finely turned and ebonized column terminating in a widely spreading solid maple foot. 

Found in Saint John, New Brunswick and illustrated in Dobson's 'Furnishings of Atlantic Canada', this extraordinary piece of treen-work exemplifies the high quality of craftsmanship achieved during the early 19th century in the Eastern Seaboard region of North America. This unique treen tazza was likely turned and carved by a highly-trained European craftsman immigrated to Canada.
 
Note:
Interestingly, the carver seems to have left the tazza partially unfinished. Between each of the thirteen lobes on the ash burl bowl, there are triangular points, five of which are very finely carved with hearts (see detail image), one is partially carved into half a heart (left unfinished as if the carver is still working on it), and the remaining seven triangles are left blank, without carved hearts. Frozen in time, as if the carver has yet to come back and complete the circle of carved hearts. Why this ring of hearts was left unfinished, remains a mystery.