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Lot Essay
Carved by one of Philadelphia's most accomplished artisans of the Rococo era and surviving with an old surface and renowned history, this side chair is a masterpiece of Philadelphia eighteenth-century furniture. The carved ornament, which retains much of its original depth, stands as a pristine example of the work the London-trained artisan, John Pollard (1740-1787) and the chair's ownership by Charles Thomson (1729-1824), "the Sam Adams of Philadelphia," makes this chair an important document of the city's history in the years surrounding the American Revolution.
John Pollard immigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1760s and by 1765 was working in the shop of Benjamin Randolph (1721-1791) along with the carver Hercules Courtenay (ca. 1740-1784), who had trained under Thomas Johnson in London. After Courtenay established his own business in the summer of 1769, Pollard was the leading carver in Randolph's shop until sometime before February 22, 1773 when he advertised a partnership with Richard Butts, their business located between Third and Fourth Streets on Chestnut Street and opposite Carpenters' Hall. Pollard later married twice and was baptized as an adult at Christ Church, where his son named George Washington Pollard was baptized in 1780. Pollard died in 1787 and was buried in St Peter's Churchyard, his tombstone referring to his age as forty-seven and his occupation as "carver" (Andrew Brunk, "Benjamin Randolph Revisited," American Furniture 2007, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (The Chipstone Foundation, 2007), pp. 5, 6; Leroy Graves and Luke Beckerdite, "New Insights on John Cadwalader's Commode-Seat Side Chairs," American Furniture 2000, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (The Chipstone Foundation, 2000), p. 156; Beatrice B. Garvan, Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art (Philadelphia, 1976), p. 114).
The attribution of the chair's carved ornament to Pollard is based on the design, and most importantly, the execution of other carved work attributed to Pollard. While there are no survivals documented to Pollard, carving on furniture that can be assuredly linked to Randolph's shop from 1769 to 1773 has often been attributed to Pollard and includes some of the most celebrated examples of Philadelphia's Rococo style such as the saddle-seat chairs and marble-top pier table made for General John Cadwalader (1742-1786) (figs. 3-6). The ears of the Thomson chair are particularly distinctive, with a cabochon carved in high relief, faintly accented with perpendicular gouge cuts and resting atop acanthus leaves. The same design and treatment is seen at the center of the front seat rails on the saddle-seat chairs and at the junctures of the C-scrolls on the frame of the marble-top table (figs. 3-4). The Thomson chair and the saddle-seat chairs also feature similar leafy clusters in the upper splats and a closely related motif is seen at the center front rail of the marble-top table. Pollard's distinctive pendant bellflowers, seen on this chair on the crest rail, are also evident on the knees of the saddle-seat chair. In addition, closely related cabochons, leafy clusters and pendant bellflowers are seen on a set of side chairs made for David Deshler. Other work thought to be the work of Pollard include the architectural interiors of the Stamper-Blackwell and Ringgold parlors, which as discussed by Graves and Beckerdite feature "acanthus leaves with intricately curled tips and deeply modeled surfaces"; similarly rendered leaves are seen around the ears of the Thomson chair (Graves and Beckerdite, pp. 153-160; Brunk, pp. 6-9, 30-32; for one of the side chairs made for Deshler, see The Chipstone Foundation, digital database, accession no. 1992.8, available at www.chipstone.org).
This Thomson chair was originally part of a set of probably twelve chairs of which a number survive today, including a side chair at Chipstone and an armchair at Harriton Association (fig. 8). The elaborate interlaced figure of eight splat was loosely based on a Chippendale design and features on three other known sets of chairs also probably carved by Pollard. These include sets made for John Dickinson, Isaac Cooper and a third set represented by two side chairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, all of which have vine and berry carved stiles and slip seats. A fourth set, with pierced Gothic splat and over-upholstered seats like the Thomson chairs, features similar cabochon ears and may also have been carved by Pollard. A fifth set with a design virtually identical to the Dickinson, Cooper and PMA sets, illustrates the work of another shop and another carver, who was probably copying Pollard's work. See Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, 3rd edition (London, 1762), plate XVI, lower right; for other examples of chairs from the Thomson set, see Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Furniture at Chipstone (Madison, WI, 1984), cat. 63, pp. 144-145; https://www.harritonhouse.org/gallery.htm; an armchair and a side chair, sold, Christie's, New York, 23 June 1993, lot 215 and Christie's, New York, 24 January 1987, lot 285; William MacPherson Hornor, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (1935), pl. 225. For the John Dickinson set, see Hornor, pl. 119 and text under pl. 341; The Magazine Antiques (May 1978), p. 1040; Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack, vol. VIII, pp. 2114-5, P5538. For the Isaac Cooper set, see Charles F. Hummel, American Chippendale Furniture (Winterthur Museum, 1976), p. 52, fig. 45 and Hornor, pl. 341; for the third set, see Garvan, p. 88, no. 67; for the fourth set, see Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (New York, 1952), no. 131, The Magazine Antiques (January 1969), p. 132; Sotheby's New York, January 16-17, 1999, lot 835; Sack, vol. I, p. 175, no. 459 and vol. VII, p. 2055, P5449; for the fifth set, see Downs, no. 137 and Morrison H. Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Late Colonial Period: The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles (New York, 1985), pp. 97-98, cat. 52.
This chair and the side chairs and armchairs from the same set were made for Charles Thomson (1729-1824), a leading figure in Revolutionary Philadelphia society and a Secretary of the Continental Congress. Born in Ireland in 1729, Charles Thomson (fig. 2) immigrated to America ten years later. His mother had died earlier and his father died on route and thus, the young Thomson arrived in New Castle, Delaware an orphan. He was fortunate to have Benjamin Franklin as his benefactor and after attending Dr. Francis Allison's academy, became a schoolmaster. Renowned for his honesty, he was selected by the Delaware Indians to serve as their Secretary in 1756. He also became a highly successful merchant. During the 1760s, he turned his attention to political matters and along with John Dickinson and other members of the Philadelphia Merchants' Commission, was one of the leading proponents of the non-importation agreements. He was to become one of the most outspoken critics of the British policies and several years before war broke out, voiced many of the tenets of the American cause. In a 1769 letter to Franklin, he stated, "The very nature of freedom supposes that no tax can be levied on a people without their consent." He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and in 1774 was described by John Adams as "the Sam Adams of Philadelphia, the life of the cause of liberty." The same year, he was chosen Secretary to the Continental Congress, a post he held until 1789. Among his many accomplishments during the early republic was the creation of the Great Seal of the United States. His design (fig. 9) was adopted by Congress in 1782. Soon after delivering the results of Washington's unanimous election as President in 1789, Thomson retired and upon his departure, received a letter from George Washington extolling his services to the country (see quote above). He had married first, Ruth Mather (1750-before 1774) with whom he had a son of the same name who moved to North Carolina. In 1774, he married secondly Hannah Harrison (d. 1807) (fig. 1), the daughter of Richard and Hannah (Norris) Harrison and a first cousin of John Dickinson's wife; this marriage may have occasioned the commission of this set of chairs. His second wife inherited her father's estate, Harriton (fig. 7) in Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County in 1781 and it was here that Thomson spent his retirement. The couple had no children and upon his death in 1824, his estate appears to have been dispersed among extended family members and friends. See Letter, Charles Thomson to Benjamin Franklin, 1769, Gilder Lehrman Document Number GLC 1018, available at https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=292; C.F. Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. II (1850), p. 358; Fred S. Rolater, "Charles Thomson, 'Prime Minister' of the United States," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (PMHB), vol. 101, p. 323; Kenneth R. Bowling, "Good-by 'Charlie': The Lee-Adams Interest and The Political Demise of Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, 1774-1789," PMHB, vol. 100 (1976), p. 315; https://www.harritonhouse.org/history.htm.
John Pollard immigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1760s and by 1765 was working in the shop of Benjamin Randolph (1721-1791) along with the carver Hercules Courtenay (ca. 1740-1784), who had trained under Thomas Johnson in London. After Courtenay established his own business in the summer of 1769, Pollard was the leading carver in Randolph's shop until sometime before February 22, 1773 when he advertised a partnership with Richard Butts, their business located between Third and Fourth Streets on Chestnut Street and opposite Carpenters' Hall. Pollard later married twice and was baptized as an adult at Christ Church, where his son named George Washington Pollard was baptized in 1780. Pollard died in 1787 and was buried in St Peter's Churchyard, his tombstone referring to his age as forty-seven and his occupation as "carver" (Andrew Brunk, "Benjamin Randolph Revisited," American Furniture 2007, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (The Chipstone Foundation, 2007), pp. 5, 6; Leroy Graves and Luke Beckerdite, "New Insights on John Cadwalader's Commode-Seat Side Chairs," American Furniture 2000, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (The Chipstone Foundation, 2000), p. 156; Beatrice B. Garvan, Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art (Philadelphia, 1976), p. 114).
The attribution of the chair's carved ornament to Pollard is based on the design, and most importantly, the execution of other carved work attributed to Pollard. While there are no survivals documented to Pollard, carving on furniture that can be assuredly linked to Randolph's shop from 1769 to 1773 has often been attributed to Pollard and includes some of the most celebrated examples of Philadelphia's Rococo style such as the saddle-seat chairs and marble-top pier table made for General John Cadwalader (1742-1786) (figs. 3-6). The ears of the Thomson chair are particularly distinctive, with a cabochon carved in high relief, faintly accented with perpendicular gouge cuts and resting atop acanthus leaves. The same design and treatment is seen at the center of the front seat rails on the saddle-seat chairs and at the junctures of the C-scrolls on the frame of the marble-top table (figs. 3-4). The Thomson chair and the saddle-seat chairs also feature similar leafy clusters in the upper splats and a closely related motif is seen at the center front rail of the marble-top table. Pollard's distinctive pendant bellflowers, seen on this chair on the crest rail, are also evident on the knees of the saddle-seat chair. In addition, closely related cabochons, leafy clusters and pendant bellflowers are seen on a set of side chairs made for David Deshler. Other work thought to be the work of Pollard include the architectural interiors of the Stamper-Blackwell and Ringgold parlors, which as discussed by Graves and Beckerdite feature "acanthus leaves with intricately curled tips and deeply modeled surfaces"; similarly rendered leaves are seen around the ears of the Thomson chair (Graves and Beckerdite, pp. 153-160; Brunk, pp. 6-9, 30-32; for one of the side chairs made for Deshler, see The Chipstone Foundation, digital database, accession no. 1992.8, available at www.chipstone.org).
This Thomson chair was originally part of a set of probably twelve chairs of which a number survive today, including a side chair at Chipstone and an armchair at Harriton Association (fig. 8). The elaborate interlaced figure of eight splat was loosely based on a Chippendale design and features on three other known sets of chairs also probably carved by Pollard. These include sets made for John Dickinson, Isaac Cooper and a third set represented by two side chairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, all of which have vine and berry carved stiles and slip seats. A fourth set, with pierced Gothic splat and over-upholstered seats like the Thomson chairs, features similar cabochon ears and may also have been carved by Pollard. A fifth set with a design virtually identical to the Dickinson, Cooper and PMA sets, illustrates the work of another shop and another carver, who was probably copying Pollard's work. See Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, 3rd edition (London, 1762), plate XVI, lower right; for other examples of chairs from the Thomson set, see Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Furniture at Chipstone (Madison, WI, 1984), cat. 63, pp. 144-145; https://www.harritonhouse.org/gallery.htm; an armchair and a side chair, sold, Christie's, New York, 23 June 1993, lot 215 and Christie's, New York, 24 January 1987, lot 285; William MacPherson Hornor, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (1935), pl. 225. For the John Dickinson set, see Hornor, pl. 119 and text under pl. 341; The Magazine Antiques (May 1978), p. 1040; Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack, vol. VIII, pp. 2114-5, P5538. For the Isaac Cooper set, see Charles F. Hummel, American Chippendale Furniture (Winterthur Museum, 1976), p. 52, fig. 45 and Hornor, pl. 341; for the third set, see Garvan, p. 88, no. 67; for the fourth set, see Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (New York, 1952), no. 131, The Magazine Antiques (January 1969), p. 132; Sotheby's New York, January 16-17, 1999, lot 835; Sack, vol. I, p. 175, no. 459 and vol. VII, p. 2055, P5449; for the fifth set, see Downs, no. 137 and Morrison H. Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Late Colonial Period: The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles (New York, 1985), pp. 97-98, cat. 52.
This chair and the side chairs and armchairs from the same set were made for Charles Thomson (1729-1824), a leading figure in Revolutionary Philadelphia society and a Secretary of the Continental Congress. Born in Ireland in 1729, Charles Thomson (fig. 2) immigrated to America ten years later. His mother had died earlier and his father died on route and thus, the young Thomson arrived in New Castle, Delaware an orphan. He was fortunate to have Benjamin Franklin as his benefactor and after attending Dr. Francis Allison's academy, became a schoolmaster. Renowned for his honesty, he was selected by the Delaware Indians to serve as their Secretary in 1756. He also became a highly successful merchant. During the 1760s, he turned his attention to political matters and along with John Dickinson and other members of the Philadelphia Merchants' Commission, was one of the leading proponents of the non-importation agreements. He was to become one of the most outspoken critics of the British policies and several years before war broke out, voiced many of the tenets of the American cause. In a 1769 letter to Franklin, he stated, "The very nature of freedom supposes that no tax can be levied on a people without their consent." He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and in 1774 was described by John Adams as "the Sam Adams of Philadelphia, the life of the cause of liberty." The same year, he was chosen Secretary to the Continental Congress, a post he held until 1789. Among his many accomplishments during the early republic was the creation of the Great Seal of the United States. His design (fig. 9) was adopted by Congress in 1782. Soon after delivering the results of Washington's unanimous election as President in 1789, Thomson retired and upon his departure, received a letter from George Washington extolling his services to the country (see quote above). He had married first, Ruth Mather (1750-before 1774) with whom he had a son of the same name who moved to North Carolina. In 1774, he married secondly Hannah Harrison (d. 1807) (fig. 1), the daughter of Richard and Hannah (Norris) Harrison and a first cousin of John Dickinson's wife; this marriage may have occasioned the commission of this set of chairs. His second wife inherited her father's estate, Harriton (fig. 7) in Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County in 1781 and it was here that Thomson spent his retirement. The couple had no children and upon his death in 1824, his estate appears to have been dispersed among extended family members and friends. See Letter, Charles Thomson to Benjamin Franklin, 1769, Gilder Lehrman Document Number GLC 1018, available at https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=292; C.F. Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. II (1850), p. 358; Fred S. Rolater, "Charles Thomson, 'Prime Minister' of the United States," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (PMHB), vol. 101, p. 323; Kenneth R. Bowling, "Good-by 'Charlie': The Lee-Adams Interest and The Political Demise of Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, 1774-1789," PMHB, vol. 100 (1976), p. 315; https://www.harritonhouse.org/history.htm.