Lot Essay
With exquisitely carved details embellishing its neoclassical form, this chair represents a transition from Chippendale to Federal design. Although based loosely on English prototypes, is a distinctive blend of elements associated with Stephen Badlam. The pendant vine and flower carving coupled with stop-fluted legs is a device found other furniture with Badlam's stamp including a nearly identical side chair at Winterthur (illustrated on the following page), a similar one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accesssion number 10.125.320) and a lolling chair at Winterthur (Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period, 1788-1825(New York, 1966), p.159, fig.110).
The chair offered here is possibly from the same set as the side chair at Winterthur. Both chairs are not only branded "S. Badlam," but also "SF" on the seat rails. The "SF" is probably the mark of Samuel Fiske (1769-1797), a cabinetmaker who is known to have worked with Stephen Badlam in Dorchester (William Ketchum, American Cabinetmakers (New York, 1995) p.119). "SF" also appears inside the seat rail of the lolling chair mentioned above.
A major in the Revolutionary War, Stephen Badlam established a flourishing cabinetmaking business on Old Plymouth Road in Dorchester Lower Mills in 1776. The proximity of his house, shop, and store to the Neponset River enabled him to ship his wares easily to towns along the eastern seacoast. His patrons included the Derbys of Salem and his products were retailed by such cabinetmakers as Thomas Seymour of Boston (see the Elias Hasket Derby Chest-on-Chest in Gerald W.R. Ward, American Case Furniture in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale Universtiy (New Haven, 1988) p.172, fig.82). At the time of his death, Badlam's inventory was valued at $24,688, a veritable fortune for the late eighteenth century (Mabel M. Swan, "General Stephen Badlam cabinet and looking glass maker," Antiques (May 1954), p.380-383).
The chair offered here is possibly from the same set as the side chair at Winterthur. Both chairs are not only branded "S. Badlam," but also "SF" on the seat rails. The "SF" is probably the mark of Samuel Fiske (1769-1797), a cabinetmaker who is known to have worked with Stephen Badlam in Dorchester (William Ketchum, American Cabinetmakers (New York, 1995) p.119). "SF" also appears inside the seat rail of the lolling chair mentioned above.
A major in the Revolutionary War, Stephen Badlam established a flourishing cabinetmaking business on Old Plymouth Road in Dorchester Lower Mills in 1776. The proximity of his house, shop, and store to the Neponset River enabled him to ship his wares easily to towns along the eastern seacoast. His patrons included the Derbys of Salem and his products were retailed by such cabinetmakers as Thomas Seymour of Boston (see the Elias Hasket Derby Chest-on-Chest in Gerald W.R. Ward, American Case Furniture in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale Universtiy (New Haven, 1988) p.172, fig.82). At the time of his death, Badlam's inventory was valued at $24,688, a veritable fortune for the late eighteenth century (Mabel M. Swan, "General Stephen Badlam cabinet and looking glass maker," Antiques (May 1954), p.380-383).