Lot Essay
The splat design of this armchair, one of the most elaborate and distinctive of the Philadelphia Chippendale style, is adapted from pl. XVI, lower right, of the 1762 edition of Chippendale's Director. The matching armchair is illustrated and discussed in William Macpherson Horner, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture, (Washington, D.C., 1935, rpt. 1977), pl. 225. One sidechair from this same set, now in the collection of the Chipstone Foundation, is illustrated and discussed in Oswaldo Rodriquez Roque, American Furniture at Chipstone, (Wisconsin, 1984), pp. 144-145, color plate XXXII. Another sidechair sold in these Rooms on January 24, 1987, Lot 285.
The extraordinary carving which embellishes this armchair is almost certainly by the same hand as the carver of the set of Chippendale chairs made for David Deshler, one of the first settlers of Germantown, Pennsylvania. A "Deshler" sidechair sold in these Rooms on October 18, 1986, Lot 512.
Charles Thomson (1729-1824), an early advocate of Independence and a member of the Sons of Libery, arrived in the Colonies at New Castle, Delaware at the age of ten from Ireland. He was a prominent and prosperous merchant in Philadelphia when he was chosen by the First continental Congress as its secretary, in 1774, and again for the Second Congress, in 1775. John Adams said of him: he "is the Sam Adams of Philadelphia, the life of the cause of liberty, they say." (C.F. Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. II, 1850, p. 358.
Upon his retirement from the Continental Congress, George Washington wrote to him on July 24, 1789 from New York in appreciation of his nearly fifteen years of service: "Accept, then, this serious Declaration, that your Services have been important, as your patriotism was distinguished; and enjoy that best of all rewards, the consciousness of having done your duty well." (John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., Writings of Washington, (Washington, D.C., 1939), vol. 30, 1788 to January 1790). The Chippendale armchair and desk made for Charles Thomson have remained in the family until the present time.
The extraordinary carving which embellishes this armchair is almost certainly by the same hand as the carver of the set of Chippendale chairs made for David Deshler, one of the first settlers of Germantown, Pennsylvania. A "Deshler" sidechair sold in these Rooms on October 18, 1986, Lot 512.
Charles Thomson (1729-1824), an early advocate of Independence and a member of the Sons of Libery, arrived in the Colonies at New Castle, Delaware at the age of ten from Ireland. He was a prominent and prosperous merchant in Philadelphia when he was chosen by the First continental Congress as its secretary, in 1774, and again for the Second Congress, in 1775. John Adams said of him: he "is the Sam Adams of Philadelphia, the life of the cause of liberty, they say." (C.F. Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. II, 1850, p. 358.
Upon his retirement from the Continental Congress, George Washington wrote to him on July 24, 1789 from New York in appreciation of his nearly fifteen years of service: "Accept, then, this serious Declaration, that your Services have been important, as your patriotism was distinguished; and enjoy that best of all rewards, the consciousness of having done your duty well." (John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., Writings of Washington, (Washington, D.C., 1939), vol. 30, 1788 to January 1790). The Chippendale armchair and desk made for Charles Thomson have remained in the family until the present time.