This sidechair is adapted from plate XIII and plate XIV of the 1762 edition of Thomas Chippendale's Director. Several variants of this popular chair pattern were made in Philadelphia, and as a group represent an elaborate and sophisticated interpretation of Chippendale's design and Rococo style.

For an identical sidechair see, Joseph K. Kindig III, The Philadelphia Chair, 1685-1785, (York, Pennsylvania, 1978), fig. 54. A closely related sidechair and an armchair now in the Garvan Collection, Yale University Art Gallery are illustrated in Patricia E. Kane, Three-Hundred Years of American Seating Furniture, (Boston, 1976), pp. 106-111, figs. 90 and 93. Another related armchair, now in the collection of the Winterthur Museum is illustrated and discussed in Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods, (New York, 1952), no. 50. Another example with a plain front seatrail from the Collection of Abram R. and Blanche M. Harpending, was sold at Sotheby's, New York, February 1, 1985, lot 609. A further example, with a scalloped front seatrail, is illustrated and discussed in Sack, American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, (Washington, D.C., 1965), Vol. II, p. 313, no. 174 and detail.