THE PROPERTY OF A DESCENDANT OF THE ORIGINAL OWNER
A CHIPPENDALE CARVED MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIR

PHILADELPHIA, CIRCA 1755

细节
A CHIPPENDALE CARVED MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIR
Philadelphia, circa 1755
The serpentine relief-carved crestrail centered by a shell flanked by scrolling leaved branches and shell-carved ears above fluted stiles centering a pierced scrolled splat embellished with volutes, leaves, and a rosette over a trapezoidal slip-seat above a shaped seatrail centered by a carved shell, on acanthus-leaf carved cabriole legs with ball and claw feet
38in. high
来源
James West (1786-1867) and Rebecca (1791-1882), second owners
Lewis West (1829-1867) and Elizabeth G. Moore (1816-1928)
Mary Roosevelt West (1866-1924) and James N. Slee (1866-1943)
James N. Slee (1892-1973) and Anne Wright Benoist (1894-1981)
Thence by descent to present owner

拍品专文

With its fluid and kinetic crestrail, pronounced ears, distinctive interlacing splat design and bold organic carving, this side chair is representative of the best cabinetmaking and carving of mid-eighteenth century Philadelphia.

A sidechair probably from the same set is illustrated in Hornor, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (Washington, D.C., 1935), fig. 221, then from the collections of Mr. and Mrs. George Leib Harrison and Mrs. John K. Mitchell, and was originally part of a set of eight. Other chairs from this set also include a sidechair illustrated in Hipkiss, Eighteenth Century American Arts, the M. and M. Karolik Collection (Boston, 1941), p. 146, fig. 83; a sidechair in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum; a sidechair from the Harpending Collection, sold Sotheby's New York, 1 February 1983, lot 612 and presently in the collection of Chipstone; and a sixth from the set in a private collection; a seventh was sold Sotheby's New York, Americana, 17 and 18 June 1997, lot 771.

Several variations of the basic design idea of the chair also exist. A similar side chair with different knee carving is illustrated and discussed in Kindig, The Philadelphia Chair, 1685-1785 (York, 1978), fig. 40; another side chair with different knee carving is illustrated and discussed in Kane, Three Hundred Years of American Seating Furniture (Boston, 1976), pp.134-135, fig. 113; and a similar side chair with different central front seatrail carving is in the collection at Winterthur, illustrated and discussed in Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (New York, 1952), fig. 127. An armchair made for Vincent Loockerman of Dover, Delaware, attributed to Benjamin Randolph, also bears some stylistic similarities to the side chair illustrated here, see Sack, American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, vol. 3, no.1400. See also Sack, vol. 1, no. 32; The Girl Scout Loan Exhibition Catalogue (New York, 1929), fig. 628; John T. Kirk, American Chairs, Queen Anne and Chippendale (New York, 1972), pp.79-82, figs. 67-73; Nutting, Furniture Treasury (New York, 1976, 13th ed.), figs. 2181 and 2183. Another related sidechair was Sold in these Rooms, 19 October 1990, lot 327; another is in a private collection.