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Lot Essay
Displaying a classic Philadelphia model, these chairs are distinguished by their boldly conceived ornament executed by two of the City's leading carvers working in the Rococo style. Their front rails are numbered III and VIII, indicating that they were made as part of a set of at least eight chairs, of which two others are known. One was formerly part of the renowned collections of Howard Reifsnyder and Matthew Sloan (fig. 1); the other was advertised by Joe Kindig, Jr. in 1947 (for the first chair, see American Art Association, Colonial Furniture: The Superb Collection of the Late Howard Reifsnyder, April 24-27, 1929, no. 709 and Loan Exhibition of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Furniture & Glass (New York: American Art Galleries, for the benefit of The National Council of Girl Scouts, Inc., 1929), no. 654; for the second chair, see Joe Kindig, Jr., advertisement, The Magazine Antiques (May 1947), inside front cover and Albert Sack, The Fine Points of Furniture, Early American (New York, 1950), p. 35).
The sprays of acanthus leaves on the chairs' crests are attributed to an unnamed carver whom Alan Miller describes as "one of the important Philadelphia carvers of the 1760s and early 1770s" and has been nicknamed "Spike" by Miller and Luke Beckerdite (Alan Miller, catalogue entry, in Clement E. Conger and A. W. Rollins, Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State (New York, 1991), cat. 28). As seen in these chairs, this carver's work frequently employs long, attenuated acanthus leaves with wide gouge cuts and the occasional use of crescent-shaped gouge cuts relieving the larger convex surfaces. Similar details, also ascribed to this carver, are seen in the skirt appliqué on a slab-table (fig. 2) and on the skirt rails of a set of chairs, examples of which are at Yale University Art Gallery and Winterthur Museum (Patricia E. Kane, 300 Years of Seating Furniture (Boston, 1976), cat. 91 and Charles F. Hummel, American Chippendale Furniture: Middle Atlantic and Southern Colonies (New York, 1976), p. 76, no. 70). Though relatively restrained in these examples, this carver was capable of some of the most exuberant ornament from the era, as seen in the Lawrence-Palmer high chest and matching dressing table at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Morrison H. Heckscher, American Furniture: The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles (New York, 1985), pp. 255-258, cats. 166, 167).
Headed by a triple-lobed cartouche, the distinctive carving on the knees of these chairs is attributed to John Pollard (1740-1787), an immigrant carver who had arrived in Philadelphia by 1765. Seemingly identical ornament adorns the knees of an easy chair at Winterthur Museum (fig. 3) and it is possible that these side chairs were made to match (for the easy chair, see Charles F. Hummel, American Chippendale Furniture: Middle Atlantic and Southern Colonies (Winterthur, DE, 1976), pl. VIII, p. 56). Pollard worked in the shop of the renowned cabinetmaker, Benjamin Randolph (1721-1791) until the early 1770s and with many prestigious commissions, including hairy-paw furniture made for John Cadwalader (1742-1786), achieved considerable prominence. Tightly organized, highly sculptural and confidently executed, Pollard's carving is among the most accomplished from eighteenth-century Philadelphia. For more on Pollard, see Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art (Philadelphia, 1976), p. 114.
The sprays of acanthus leaves on the chairs' crests are attributed to an unnamed carver whom Alan Miller describes as "one of the important Philadelphia carvers of the 1760s and early 1770s" and has been nicknamed "Spike" by Miller and Luke Beckerdite (Alan Miller, catalogue entry, in Clement E. Conger and A. W. Rollins, Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State (New York, 1991), cat. 28). As seen in these chairs, this carver's work frequently employs long, attenuated acanthus leaves with wide gouge cuts and the occasional use of crescent-shaped gouge cuts relieving the larger convex surfaces. Similar details, also ascribed to this carver, are seen in the skirt appliqué on a slab-table (fig. 2) and on the skirt rails of a set of chairs, examples of which are at Yale University Art Gallery and Winterthur Museum (Patricia E. Kane, 300 Years of Seating Furniture (Boston, 1976), cat. 91 and Charles F. Hummel, American Chippendale Furniture: Middle Atlantic and Southern Colonies (New York, 1976), p. 76, no. 70). Though relatively restrained in these examples, this carver was capable of some of the most exuberant ornament from the era, as seen in the Lawrence-Palmer high chest and matching dressing table at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Morrison H. Heckscher, American Furniture: The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles (New York, 1985), pp. 255-258, cats. 166, 167).
Headed by a triple-lobed cartouche, the distinctive carving on the knees of these chairs is attributed to John Pollard (1740-1787), an immigrant carver who had arrived in Philadelphia by 1765. Seemingly identical ornament adorns the knees of an easy chair at Winterthur Museum (fig. 3) and it is possible that these side chairs were made to match (for the easy chair, see Charles F. Hummel, American Chippendale Furniture: Middle Atlantic and Southern Colonies (Winterthur, DE, 1976), pl. VIII, p. 56). Pollard worked in the shop of the renowned cabinetmaker, Benjamin Randolph (1721-1791) until the early 1770s and with many prestigious commissions, including hairy-paw furniture made for John Cadwalader (1742-1786), achieved considerable prominence. Tightly organized, highly sculptural and confidently executed, Pollard's carving is among the most accomplished from eighteenth-century Philadelphia. For more on Pollard, see Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art (Philadelphia, 1976), p. 114.