A SET OF TEN FEDERAL CARVED MAHOGANY SHIELD BACK CHAIRS

Details

A SET OF TEN FEDERAL CARVED MAHOGANY SHIELD BACK CHAIRS
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, CIRCA 1790

Comprising two armchairs and eight side chairs, the side chairs with arched molded crestrail above a shield shaped back with carved and pierced splat centering an urn with draped swag and flanked by carved bell flowers above a scrolled and pierced base, above a trapezoidal overupholstered seat with bowed front, on square molded legs, the armchairs with serpentine molded arms above downswept molded arm supports
39¾in. high the sidechairs, 40½in. high the armchairs (10)

Provenance

Descended in the Family of General Stedman, Hartford, Connecticut
Benjamin Ginsburg Antiquary, New York, 1981

Lot Essay

With their shield-backs and drapery-swagged urn splat, these chairs are based upon Plate IV of the 1794 edition of Hepplewhite's The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide. These chairs relate to a set of chairs owned by James Dana (1735-1812), minister of the Congregational Church in Wallingford, Connecticut from 1758 to 1789 (see Montgomery, American Furniture, The Federal Period (New York, 1966) p. 97, fig. 47). Another chair relating to the Dana set is illustrated in Sack, American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Vol. IX (1989): 2538, P6200. While the chairs from the Dana set have a triple arched crest, the set illustrated here have a true shield-back relating more closely to Hepplewhite's design.