Lot Essay
This chair with its triple-arch crestrail and Gothic splat represents a design that was produced in several cabinetshops in Philadelphia in the middle of the eighteenth century. Among the examples is a chair designed by Daniel Trotter for Stephen Girard with an identical back embellished with a carved acanthus and drop pendant; this chair is illustrated in William Macpherson Horner, Jr., Blue Book, Philadelphia Furniture, (Washington, D.C., 1977), p. 187. A set of chairs nearly identical in form was owned by the Newhall family of Philadelphia. The set, two of which are signed "Walton" on the seat frames, were made by the cabinetmaker Samuel Walton, circa 1770-1780.
See Hornor, pl. 274 as well as pl 355 for a related undocumented chair; and American Furniture from Israel Sack Collection, vol. 7, p. 2188-2189, fig. P5618. Perhaps the most closely related chair to the above example in overall design is a side-chair in the Francis P. Garvan collection at Yale. Both chairs share the triple-arch crestrail, nearly identical splat design, slip seat, and plain cabriole legs with ball-and-claw feet. The Yale chair is slightly more ornate with chamfered edges along the Gothic splat, an acanthus-carved central motif, and cylindrical rear legs.
Chairs with a similar Gothic splat topped with a serpentine crestrail are documented to the cabinetmaker Thomas Tufft of Philadelphia.
See Christie's, New York, Important Philadelphia Chippendale Furniture from the Edwards-Harrison Family, May 28, 1987, lot 201.
A related pair with identical back was sold at Christie's, New York, January 23, 1988, lot 366. For further examples, see Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods, (New York, 1952), no. 141; Patricia Kane, Three Hundred Years of Seating Furniture, (New Haven, Connecticut, 1976), p. 128, no. 107.
See Hornor, pl. 274 as well as pl 355 for a related undocumented chair; and American Furniture from Israel Sack Collection, vol. 7, p. 2188-2189, fig. P5618. Perhaps the most closely related chair to the above example in overall design is a side-chair in the Francis P. Garvan collection at Yale. Both chairs share the triple-arch crestrail, nearly identical splat design, slip seat, and plain cabriole legs with ball-and-claw feet. The Yale chair is slightly more ornate with chamfered edges along the Gothic splat, an acanthus-carved central motif, and cylindrical rear legs.
Chairs with a similar Gothic splat topped with a serpentine crestrail are documented to the cabinetmaker Thomas Tufft of Philadelphia.
See Christie's, New York, Important Philadelphia Chippendale Furniture from the Edwards-Harrison Family, May 28, 1987, lot 201.
A related pair with identical back was sold at Christie's, New York, January 23, 1988, lot 366. For further examples, see Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods, (New York, 1952), no. 141; Patricia Kane, Three Hundred Years of Seating Furniture, (New Haven, Connecticut, 1976), p. 128, no. 107.