A CHIPPENDALE CARVED MAHOGANY CORNER CHAIR

NEW YORK, 1760-1780

Details

A CHIPPENDALE CARVED MAHOGANY CORNER CHAIR
New York, 1760-1780
The horseshoe-shaped backrest with applied molded cresting above two vasi-form splats pierced with hearts and diamonds, supported by three ring and baluster-turned stiles above a seat with shaped front, on cabriole legs with ball-and-claw feet, the front leg with acanthus-carved knee
32in. high

Provenance

Sotheby Parke-Bernet, Inc., New York

Lot Essay

The chair offered here is one of only a few Chippendale corner chairs to survive from New York. With a curvilinear seat frame and four ball-and-claw feet, the chair exhibits a high degree of workmanship and, compared to a straight seat frame and a single frontal ball-and-claw foot, these features were additional costs to the buyer. Similar turned supports, knee carving and ball-and-claw feet are seen on a group of three corner "commode" chairs, one of which was owned by Sir William Johnson, Johnstown, New York and another of which descended in the Stevenson family of Albany (see Kane, 300 Years of American Seating Furniture (New Haven, 1976), pp. 142-143, cat. 120; "Shop Talk," Antiques (October 1954), p. 248; Sotheby's New York, January 19-21, 1996, lot 1526).