A PAIR OF CHIPPENDALE CARVED WALNUT SIDE CHAIRS

PHILADELPHIA, 1765-1785

Details

A PAIR OF CHIPPENDALE CARVED WALNUT SIDE CHAIRS
Philadelphia, 1765-1785
Each with a serpentine crestrail centering a carved ruffled shell continuing to ear volutes above a pierced and interlaced scroll splat flanked by tapering stiles over a molded trapezoidal seat frame fitted with an upholstered slip seat centering an applied carved shell, on cabriole legs with acanthus-carved knees, scrolled returns and ball-and-claw feet
41in. high (2)

Provenance

Mrs. George Maurice Morris, Washington, D.C.
Sold in these Rooms, The Contents of The Lindens, January 22, 1983, lot 352

Lot Essay

With remarkable fluidity, the maker of these chairs integrated dynamic outlines and detailed carved and applied motifs with overall form. Although the legs have deep, localized carving and appear to have been inspired by early eighteenth-century English designs, the interlaced splat and ruffle-carved crest are clearly indicative of a taste prevalent in Philadelphia from the 1750s. Many variations of these chairs survive with the extent of the carved ornament indicative of the purchaser's taste or budget. A related chair, with a more elaborately carved splat is illustrated in Sack, American Antiques from the Sack Collection vol.6, p.37, fig.4158; another, with a less exuberant crest and more heavily carved knees is in the collection of the Winterthur Museum, and is illustrated in Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Period in the Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum (New York, 1952), fig.126.