NEW YORK, CIRCA 1760

Supported by family tradition, direct lineal descent and an early print, these chairs are thought to have been owned by Robert Murray (1721-1786) and his wife, Mary Lindley (d. 1780) of New York. Married in Berks county, Pennsylvania in 1744, the Murrays moved to New York City in 1753. There, Robert Murray became a prosperous merchant and owned substantial property including a townhouse, numerous wharves and, in the area now known as Murray Hill, a country estate. It was in this mansion that Mary Murray is reputed to have delayed the advances of General Howe and enabled General Israel Putnam's escape during his retreat following the Battle of Long Island in 1776. Later commemorated and exaggerated in numerous prints, plays and poems, Mary Murray's actions were nonetheless noted soon after the event. A soldier's diary of the time claims that "Mrs. Murray saved this part of the American army" (Charles Monaghan, The Murrays of Murray Hill (Brooklyn, NY: Urban History Press, 1998), pp. 66-68).

It is interesting to note that chairs similar to those offered here appear in a 19th-century print of Howe's famous visit to the Murray estate. With the same shell crests, diamond-in-scroll splats and shell-carved knees, the chairs depicted in the print may have been based upon surviving examples from the same set.