CARVING ATTRIBUTED TO NICHOLAS BERNARD AND MARTIN JUGIEZ (W. TOGETHER CIRCA 1762-1783), PHILADELPHIA, 1760-1780

Its splat a faithful rendition of a Chippendale design (fig. 1), this side chair illustrates the sophistication of Philadelphia's chairmakers and carvers during the Rococo period. More than in any other colonial center, the City's furniture makers drew upon Thomas Chippendale's published volumes to provide their clients with the latest European fashions. In most cases, American furniture makers selected details of a design rather than replicating an entire work. In the case of the set represented by this chair, the makers closely followed Chippendale's splat pattern, but rendered acanthus-carved legs and ball-and-claw feet that were standard Philadelphia models, a choice probably dictated by the means and taste of the client. Only two other chairs, now in the collections of Winterthur Museum (fig. 2) and the Chipstone Foundation, from the same set are known, making the Nusrala Collection example the only known in private hands. The carving is attributed to Nicholas Bernard and Martin Jugiez, who worked together from the early 1760s and by 1783 had established separate businesses. An immigrant whose origins are unknown, Jugiez was one of the City's most talented woodworkers and was the primary carver in the partnership. The Nusrala Collection chair exhibits high-relief and fluid carving on the crest and splat, which contrasts with the more linear execution on the knees. Considered the more prominent area, the back of the chair was most likely carved by Jugiez while the legs were carved by Bernard. For more on Bernard and Jugiez, see lot 672 in this catalogue.

A related set of chairs bears the same splat pattern and also incorporates the knee carving and scroll feet seen in the published design. With high-relief and robust carving throughout, this related set was carved exclusively by Jugiez (see Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (New York, 1952), cat. 35; Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, "A Table's Tale: Craft, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," Luke Beckerdite, ed., American Furniture 2004 (Milwaukee, WI, 2004), pp. 26-27, figs. 43-47).