PHILADELPHIA, CIRCA 1770

With a pierced scrolled splat, shell-carved knees and ball-and-claw feet, this armchair is an especially successful design that when compared to the chair in the previous lot, well illustrates the evolution toward the full-blown Chippendale style. Here, the form is discretely but assuredly embellished with three-dimensional carved ornament, a forté of Philadelphia craftsmanship. The chair's importance is enhanced by its descent in the family for which it was made. In addition to lots 802-806 in this sale, the Stevenson family owned and carefully preserved an array of high quality Philadelphia-made furniture, including the celebrated Cornelius Stevenson card table with carving attributed to Nicholas Bernard (see Christie's New York, January 21, 2000, lot 133). For provenance details, see lot 802.