Lot Essay
With its S-curved profile, compass seat and rounded stiles, this chair represents the most fully developed expression of the Queen Anne style in Philadelphia. The serpentine line defined by William Hogarth as nature's most elemental "line of beauty," is embodied in this chair. Its sculptural quality is closely aligned with its English, George II contemporaries, maintaining Philadelphia's close adherence to London's fashion. Both in design and construction, this chair represents the most highly skilled craftsmanship available in America employing a through tenon of the seat to the rear posts and doweling the front legs through the front corners of the frame. The lack of stretchers and upward thrust of the crestrail give this chair a light, vertical appearance. The double volute carved crest, along with shells and ruffles each echo the curvaceous profiles of the chair uniting embellishment and craftsmanship.
This chair relates to a small group of compass seat Philadelphia chairs with similar components. Within this group, there are small variations in the shape of the splat and returns: a sidechair in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is illustrated in Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (New York, 1985): Heckscher, p. 87, fig. 42. While both chairs have similar ruffle- carved returns, S-curved and fan-like shell carved crest, their splats are taken from different templates. The chair illustrated here represents the baluster model splat, similar to another chair in the Metropolitan Museum's collection illustrated in Heckscher, no. 41, p. 86. A chair in the collection of Bayou Bend (LB13) also has ruffle-carved knee returns, but has a splat similar to the chair in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, cat. no. 42.
Philadelphia Queen Anne side chairs with comparable ruffled returns are recorded in the Winterthur Library: Decorative Arts Photographic Collection: six in the collection of the Winterthur Museum: 64.1377 and 64.?, 65.3691, 65.3703 and 72.701, 72.702; one arm chair and one side chair in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 65.3 and 64.1977; an armchair in The Virginia Museum of Art, 78.1569; and another armchair in a private collection, 70.3712.
This chair relates to a small group of compass seat Philadelphia chairs with similar components. Within this group, there are small variations in the shape of the splat and returns: a sidechair in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is illustrated in Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (New York, 1985): Heckscher, p. 87, fig. 42. While both chairs have similar ruffle- carved returns, S-curved and fan-like shell carved crest, their splats are taken from different templates. The chair illustrated here represents the baluster model splat, similar to another chair in the Metropolitan Museum's collection illustrated in Heckscher, no. 41, p. 86. A chair in the collection of Bayou Bend (LB13) also has ruffle-carved knee returns, but has a splat similar to the chair in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, cat. no. 42.
Philadelphia Queen Anne side chairs with comparable ruffled returns are recorded in the Winterthur Library: Decorative Arts Photographic Collection: six in the collection of the Winterthur Museum: 64.1377 and 64.?, 65.3691, 65.3703 and 72.701, 72.702; one arm chair and one side chair in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 65.3 and 64.1977; an armchair in The Virginia Museum of Art, 78.1569; and another armchair in a private collection, 70.3712.