拍品专文
These chairs relate to a group of Rhode Island chairs through to be made by Providence makers. The Rhode Island Historical Society owns a similar chair by Job Danforth. However, there is reason to believe this type was also made by the firm of Goddard and Engs of Newport and was retailed in Providence. See Joseph K. Ott, The John Brown Hosue Loan Exhibition of Rhode Island Furniture (1965), p. 19
This popular splat pattern is found on chairs made in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Benjamin Frothingham of Charlestown produced a chair with this splat pattern based upon drawings by Samuel McIntire with carved drapery, trailing vines in the crest and a blank lunette (Sack, Fine Point of Furniture (New York, 1950), pp. 54-55). Connecticut examples are more closely tied to Rhode Island chairs with splats from each region embellished with swags of carved leaves, honeysuckle plumes, and a carved sunburst lunette (Barbour Collection, Christie's, June 22, 1994, lots. 190-191).
The community in which most chairs of this design were made was Providence, Rhode Island. Because of variations in construction and carving it appears that several craftsmen in town were responsible for the manufacture of shield-back or pedestal-back chairs with this popular splat pattern. Although craftsmen Job Danforth and possibly Charles Burling Stevenson are associated with chairs of this form, the only documented kylix back chairs are labeled by John Carlile and sons. John Carlile, Sr. (1727-1796) was a native of Boston who moved to Providence by the 1750s where he produced case pieces and chairs. By the late 1780s Carlile was joined by his sons who continued in the business after their father's death. As John Sr. was near the end of his life when these chairs were made, scholars have suggested that they could be the work of John Carlile, Jr. (Monkhouse and Michie American Furniture in Pendelton House (RISD, 1986), no. 117; Montgomery, American Furniture (New York, 1966), no. 45).
This set of three chairs share the construction features of the labeled Carlile chairs: each has exposed through tenons, open corner braces, a blind-tenoned medial stretcher, and maple seat rails. The carved motifs of the splat are also very similar with slight variations in the fluted versus bellflower carved honeysuckle base, the soft curve of the drapery swags versus the more angular fall of the labeled chairs, and fewer ribs in the kylix; otherwise the manner in which the carving is executed is nearly identical. Whether these chairs are the products of John Sr., John, Jr. or one of the other Carlile brothers such as Benjamin or Samuel, it seems apparent that they were made by a craftsman familiar with the Carlile family shop production.
An identical chair carved by the same hand is in the collection of the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection, see Kane, 300 Years of Seating Furniture (Boston, 1976), no. 139. The labeled chairs are illustrated in The Magazine Antiques 121 (May, 1982):1156: 117 (June 1980):1146; Roque, American Art at Amherst (Wesleyan Univ. Press, 1978), p. 246 (Monkhouse, p. 175).
This popular splat pattern is found on chairs made in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Benjamin Frothingham of Charlestown produced a chair with this splat pattern based upon drawings by Samuel McIntire with carved drapery, trailing vines in the crest and a blank lunette (Sack, Fine Point of Furniture (New York, 1950), pp. 54-55). Connecticut examples are more closely tied to Rhode Island chairs with splats from each region embellished with swags of carved leaves, honeysuckle plumes, and a carved sunburst lunette (Barbour Collection, Christie's, June 22, 1994, lots. 190-191).
The community in which most chairs of this design were made was Providence, Rhode Island. Because of variations in construction and carving it appears that several craftsmen in town were responsible for the manufacture of shield-back or pedestal-back chairs with this popular splat pattern. Although craftsmen Job Danforth and possibly Charles Burling Stevenson are associated with chairs of this form, the only documented kylix back chairs are labeled by John Carlile and sons. John Carlile, Sr. (1727-1796) was a native of Boston who moved to Providence by the 1750s where he produced case pieces and chairs. By the late 1780s Carlile was joined by his sons who continued in the business after their father's death. As John Sr. was near the end of his life when these chairs were made, scholars have suggested that they could be the work of John Carlile, Jr. (Monkhouse and Michie American Furniture in Pendelton House (RISD, 1986), no. 117; Montgomery, American Furniture (New York, 1966), no. 45).
This set of three chairs share the construction features of the labeled Carlile chairs: each has exposed through tenons, open corner braces, a blind-tenoned medial stretcher, and maple seat rails. The carved motifs of the splat are also very similar with slight variations in the fluted versus bellflower carved honeysuckle base, the soft curve of the drapery swags versus the more angular fall of the labeled chairs, and fewer ribs in the kylix; otherwise the manner in which the carving is executed is nearly identical. Whether these chairs are the products of John Sr., John, Jr. or one of the other Carlile brothers such as Benjamin or Samuel, it seems apparent that they were made by a craftsman familiar with the Carlile family shop production.
An identical chair carved by the same hand is in the collection of the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection, see Kane, 300 Years of Seating Furniture (Boston, 1976), no. 139. The labeled chairs are illustrated in The Magazine Antiques 121 (May, 1982):1156: 117 (June 1980):1146; Roque, American Art at Amherst (Wesleyan Univ. Press, 1978), p. 246 (Monkhouse, p. 175).