This set of eight gondola chairs descended in the family of Luman Reed with a history of manufacture by Duncan Phyfe. Although not listed separately, they may be a part of the bill dated 25 March 1833 for $910.00 from Phyfe to Reed. Originally part of a set of twelve, these chairs are marked on the seatrails I, II, IIII, VIIII, X, XII, and may be either the set of "12 Mahogany Chairs" listed in the Parlour or in the Picture Gallery in the inventory of Reed's property taken in 1836.

Related examples are illustrated in Scherer, New York Furniture at the New York State Museum, (Virginia, 1983), fig. 76; Venable, American Furniture in the Bybee Collection, (Austin, TX, 1989), fig. 68; Warren, Bayou Bend, (Houston, TX, 1975), fig. 180.