拍品专文
Lavishly decorated in the Chippendale style and descending through the family of its first owner, this armchair is a remarkable survival of New York craftsmanship. The chair is from a set of twelve made for Samuel (1739-1820) and Judith Crommelin (d.1803) Verplanck. Eight of these chairs, comprising one armchair and seven side chairs, are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 2). The remaining four chairs include the armchair offered here, and three side chairs (Morrison Heckscher, American Furniture in the Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles, no. 34, pp. 75-77; Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 10 June 1977, lot 311 and Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc. "Opulence and Splendor": The New York Chair, 1690-1830 (New York, 1984), p.22). As Morrison Heckscher notes, the chairs exhibit slight differences in carving and two sets of incised numbers on the seat rails that indicate they were from two distinct commissions, albeit ones that occurred in the same approximate time period and possibly from the same shop.
Samuel Verplanck (fig. 1) was one of the leading members of aristocratic New York society. A prominent banker and one of the founders of the New York Chamber of Commerce, Samuel graduated with the first class of King's College (later Columbia) and trained under his uncle and future father-in-law, Daniel Crommelin, in Amsterdam. In 1761, he married his cousin, Judith Crommelin, and the couple returned to New York in 1763, where they lived in the Wall Street house Samuel had inherited from his father. Located just down from the street of City Hall, later Federal Hall, the mansion housed the opulent furnishings of the Verplanck's, including the chair offered here, as well as their collection of art. John Singleton Copley visited the house in 1771 and may have painted his portrait of Samuel there. Upon Judith's death in 1803, Samuel took up residence at his country estate, Mount Gulian, in Fishkill, New York where he moved all of the furnishings of the Wall Street house. Mount Gulian had been a headquarters of the American army during the Revolutionary War and, in 1783, the site of the founding of the Order of the Cincinnati. The chairs remained at Mount Gulian and descended en suite through the male lines until 1885, upon the death of Samuel's great-grandson, William Samuel Verplanck. At that time, the twelve chairs were separated among several of William Samuel's children. (William Edward Verplanck, The History of Abraham Isaacse Verplanck and his Male Descendants in America (Fishkill, NY, 1892), pp.152-162; John Caldwell and Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. I (New York, 1994), pp.94-95; Heckscher, American Furniture, p.75).
With its broad proportions, eagle-carved handholds (see cover illustration), and ruffled splat, this chair exhibits the hallmarks of New York Chippendale furniture. More so than any other colonial city, New York faithfully emulated English designs of the period. The chair bears a resemblance to a design by Robert Manwaring published in 1765, but is closer to extant English chairs (Heckscher, American Rococo, p.148; John T. Kirk, American Furniture in the British Tradition to 1830 (New York, 1982), figs. 930-932). Two additional side chairs are almost identical to the twelve discussed here and appear to differ only in the lack of carved rosettes in the lower section of the splat (one is in the collection of Winterthur Museum and illustrated in Kirk, fig. 929; the other Sold in these Rooms, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson, 27 and 28 January 1995, lot 1070).
Samuel Verplanck (fig. 1) was one of the leading members of aristocratic New York society. A prominent banker and one of the founders of the New York Chamber of Commerce, Samuel graduated with the first class of King's College (later Columbia) and trained under his uncle and future father-in-law, Daniel Crommelin, in Amsterdam. In 1761, he married his cousin, Judith Crommelin, and the couple returned to New York in 1763, where they lived in the Wall Street house Samuel had inherited from his father. Located just down from the street of City Hall, later Federal Hall, the mansion housed the opulent furnishings of the Verplanck's, including the chair offered here, as well as their collection of art. John Singleton Copley visited the house in 1771 and may have painted his portrait of Samuel there. Upon Judith's death in 1803, Samuel took up residence at his country estate, Mount Gulian, in Fishkill, New York where he moved all of the furnishings of the Wall Street house. Mount Gulian had been a headquarters of the American army during the Revolutionary War and, in 1783, the site of the founding of the Order of the Cincinnati. The chairs remained at Mount Gulian and descended en suite through the male lines until 1885, upon the death of Samuel's great-grandson, William Samuel Verplanck. At that time, the twelve chairs were separated among several of William Samuel's children. (William Edward Verplanck, The History of Abraham Isaacse Verplanck and his Male Descendants in America (Fishkill, NY, 1892), pp.152-162; John Caldwell and Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. I (New York, 1994), pp.94-95; Heckscher, American Furniture, p.75).
With its broad proportions, eagle-carved handholds (see cover illustration), and ruffled splat, this chair exhibits the hallmarks of New York Chippendale furniture. More so than any other colonial city, New York faithfully emulated English designs of the period. The chair bears a resemblance to a design by Robert Manwaring published in 1765, but is closer to extant English chairs (Heckscher, American Rococo, p.148; John T. Kirk, American Furniture in the British Tradition to 1830 (New York, 1982), figs. 930-932). Two additional side chairs are almost identical to the twelve discussed here and appear to differ only in the lack of carved rosettes in the lower section of the splat (one is in the collection of Winterthur Museum and illustrated in Kirk, fig. 929; the other Sold in these Rooms, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson, 27 and 28 January 1995, lot 1070).