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Lot Essay
With a pronounced rake to the rear legs and out-sweeping arms with C-scroll supports, this easy chair is a quintessential and especially well-preserved example of the Philadelphia model. As shown in the above illustrations taken when it was re-upholstered in the early 1980s, the chair survives with much of its original frame intact. A closely related easy chair with acanthus rather than shell-carved knees has been hailed by Albert Sack as "the perfection of the form" (see Christie's New York, January 20-21, 2005, lot 308; Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture (New York, 1993), p. 74). Both chairs display the same overall design, with similar shaping to the crest rail, wing frames, arm supports and bowed front seat rail. Other similar chairs include an example in the Philadelphia Museum of Art that was long thought to have been referenced in a 1754 bill of sale from John Elliott to Edward Shippen. While the Museum's chair is no longer thought to be the product described, the bill gives an unusually detailed account of the various costs for the form represented by the Nusrala Collection chair and documents the expenses incurred for the upholstery of the chair, which were considerably greater than the cost of the chair frame. The "Easy Chair frame Carved Claw and Knee" cost L1 15 shillings, yet the fabrics and labor, including 7¼ yards of "worsted damask" at L2 10 shillings 9 pence, totaled almost L7 (see Christie's New York, January 20-21, 2005, p. 205).
At the time the chair was sold in 1985, Donald D. Webster, the president of C.G. Sloan & Company, recorded what was known of its family history. Probably provided by the previous owner, John Colhoun, the family tradition stated that the chair was made for Samuel Morris, "one of the founders of the Schuylkill Fishing Club," of Philadelphia and descended to a member of the Murray family who was also relative of Colhoun's (Donald D. Webster, bill of sale, December 2, 1985, the Nusrala Collection files). From this information, it is possible to surmise more details of its provenance. As the Schuylkill Fishing Club was founded in 1732, the family history probably referred to Samuel Morris (1711-1782), though if the reference to the fishing club was incorrect, it could also have referred to his nephew, Captain Samuel Morris (1734-1812). The latter's grandson, Caspar Morris (1805-1884) married Anne Cheston (1810-1880), the sister of Francina Henrietta Cheston (1828-1902); Francina was the grandmother of William Talbot Murray (b. 1884) who married Edmonia Harrison Colhoun (b. 1889) in 1921, thus linking the Morris-Murray-Colhoun families.
At the time the chair was sold in 1985, Donald D. Webster, the president of C.G. Sloan & Company, recorded what was known of its family history. Probably provided by the previous owner, John Colhoun, the family tradition stated that the chair was made for Samuel Morris, "one of the founders of the Schuylkill Fishing Club," of Philadelphia and descended to a member of the Murray family who was also relative of Colhoun's (Donald D. Webster, bill of sale, December 2, 1985, the Nusrala Collection files). From this information, it is possible to surmise more details of its provenance. As the Schuylkill Fishing Club was founded in 1732, the family history probably referred to Samuel Morris (1711-1782), though if the reference to the fishing club was incorrect, it could also have referred to his nephew, Captain Samuel Morris (1734-1812). The latter's grandson, Caspar Morris (1805-1884) married Anne Cheston (1810-1880), the sister of Francina Henrietta Cheston (1828-1902); Francina was the grandmother of William Talbot Murray (b. 1884) who married Edmonia Harrison Colhoun (b. 1889) in 1921, thus linking the Morris-Murray-Colhoun families.