Lot Essay
According to family tradition, these chairs belonged to Robert Morris, builder of Lemon Hill House and envoy to France.
The four chairs belong to a set, of which seven armchairs and a settee are known; other chairs are in the Kaufman and Winterthur collections. With their upholstered backs and stepped arms, the chairs relate to designs for the so-called "cabriole" or "drawing-room" chairs popularized by Hepplewhite and Sheraton. They are among the most fashionable and high style furniture of the Federal era and, in the words of scholar Charles Montgomery, stand as "a monument of early American chairmaking." For more information, see Charles Montgomery, American Furniture, The Federal Period (New York, 1966), p. 145 and J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (New York, 1986), p. 130.
The four chairs belong to a set, of which seven armchairs and a settee are known; other chairs are in the Kaufman and Winterthur collections. With their upholstered backs and stepped arms, the chairs relate to designs for the so-called "cabriole" or "drawing-room" chairs popularized by Hepplewhite and Sheraton. They are among the most fashionable and high style furniture of the Federal era and, in the words of scholar Charles Montgomery, stand as "a monument of early American chairmaking." For more information, see Charles Montgomery, American Furniture, The Federal Period (New York, 1966), p. 145 and J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (New York, 1986), p. 130.