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Lot Essay
With its accomplished carved ornament, small ball-and-claw feet and illustrious ownership, this side chair is an important document of mid-eighteenth century Philadelphia craftsmanship. Based on the motifs and execution of its carved details, this side chair is attributed to the early work of Nicholas Bernard and Martin Jugiez, two of Philadelphia's leading carvers of this period. Attributed to Bernard, a high chest and the Lambert family side chairs (fig. 1) display almost identical feet to those on this chair and are described by Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller as "underscale," not fully using "the full thickness of the stock" and dating from the late 1740s and early 1750s (Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, "A Table's Tale: Craft, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," American Furniture 2004, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, 2004), pp. 9-11, figs. 13, 14, 16-18). The design vocabulary of the chair's ornament, notably the rocaille motif on the crest and the acanthus carving on the splat and knees are found on a number of works attributed to Bernard, including the high chest and Lambert chairs. Furthermore, the Lambert chairs and another slightly later chair attributed to Bernard have blocks placed against the rear rail under the overhang of the shoe, a construction detail also present on the chair offered here (Ibid., see also pp. 12, 13, 20, figs. 19, 20, 34).
Adorned with carving on its crest, splat and knees, fluted stiles and an applied shell on the skirt, this side chair illustrates one of the more elaborate models of seating furniture available in Philadelphia at the time. Marked IIII, one other chair from this set with ownership ascribed to Benjamin Franklin, is known (Sotheby's New York, October 15, 1999, lot 63). Both display identical design schemes, construction methods and marking system. For a plainer version of this model, see Morrison H. Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1985), cat. 47.
Based on genealogical ties linking the previous owners of this chair and the other known example from the same set, these chairs were most likely made for a member of the Wistar family (fig. 2). The chair offered here bears a plaque and a handwritten note that indicate it was owned in the nineteenth century by John Mickle Whitall (1800-1877) and subsequently by his son, James Whitall (1834-1896). The only other known chair from this set was owned by direct descendants of the famous statesman, Benjamin Franklin, and by family tradition was owned by Franklin before descending in the Bache and Hodge families; it is thought to be part of the large number of chairs recorded in the inventories of William Bache (1773-1820), Franklin's grandson and Bache's widow, Catherine (Wistar) Bache (1770-1820) (see Sotheby's, cited above; Page Talbott, "Franklin's Legacy: Documented Furnishings," Antiques (December 2005), pp. 64-73). While it is possible that both chairs were originally owned by Franklin and the chair offered here passed to the Whitalls via the Wistar-Bache family, it is also possible that they came from Catherine (Wistar) Bache's side of the family. Her brother, Thomas Wistar (1764-1851) was the grandfather of James Whitall's wife, Mary Wistar Cope (b. 1834), so it is very likely that the set was dispersed early on, with Catherine and Thomas Wistar each receiving at least one from the original set. Their father, Richard Wistar (1727-1781) stands as a likely first owner. The eldest son of the renowned glass maker, Caspar Wistar (1695-1751), Richard continued his father's Wistarburgh business, was a successful brass-button manufacturer and died leaving a large estate with lands in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia (John W. Jordan, ed., Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania (New York, 1911), pp. 259, 262). In addition to their father's estate, Catherine and Thomas Wistar are both listed as beneficiaries in the wills of their grandmother, Catharine (Jansen) Wistar (1703-1786) and their aunt, Sarah Wistar (1738-1815) (Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Wills, 1682-1819, available at ancestry.com).
The chair offered here may have descended directly from the Wistars to the Whitalls through the marriage of Mary Wistar Cope and James Whitall in 1856, but the brass plaque on the rear seat rail indicates that it was previously owned by James' father, John Mickle Whitall (1800-1877). From 1850, John Mickle Whitall lived at 1317 Filbert Street in Philadelphia, across the street from his future in-laws, Marmaduke and his wife, Sarah (Wistar) Cope, the daughter of Thomas Wistar, and the chair may have passed between neighbors (Hannah Whitall Smith, John M. Whitall: The Story of His Life (Philadelphia, 1879), pp. 200, 204).
Described by his daughter as a devout Quaker, romantic husband and fun-loving father, John Mickle Whitall was born in Woodbury, New Jersey and in his early years traveled the world on board trading vessels. In 1830, he married Mary Tatum and the couple resided in Philadelphia with summer homes in Atlantic City and near Haddonfield, New Jersey (Smith, passim). As indicated by the handwritten paper label on the underside of the chair's current slip seat, the chair was later in the house of their son, James Whitall (1834-1896), who appears in the 1870 and 1880 Census as living on Penn Street, Germantown, the address on the chair's label. The same label states that the chair was brought in 1900 to Jamestown [RI], where James' son John M. Whitall (b. 1858) had a summer house during the early years of the twentieth century (The Jamestown and New Shoreham Directory, 1922, 1926 and 1930). Providing evidence that other Wistar family material descended along these lines, portions of the Wistar Papers were given by the younger John M. Whitall to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (see www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/0700.htm).
Adorned with carving on its crest, splat and knees, fluted stiles and an applied shell on the skirt, this side chair illustrates one of the more elaborate models of seating furniture available in Philadelphia at the time. Marked IIII, one other chair from this set with ownership ascribed to Benjamin Franklin, is known (Sotheby's New York, October 15, 1999, lot 63). Both display identical design schemes, construction methods and marking system. For a plainer version of this model, see Morrison H. Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1985), cat. 47.
Based on genealogical ties linking the previous owners of this chair and the other known example from the same set, these chairs were most likely made for a member of the Wistar family (fig. 2). The chair offered here bears a plaque and a handwritten note that indicate it was owned in the nineteenth century by John Mickle Whitall (1800-1877) and subsequently by his son, James Whitall (1834-1896). The only other known chair from this set was owned by direct descendants of the famous statesman, Benjamin Franklin, and by family tradition was owned by Franklin before descending in the Bache and Hodge families; it is thought to be part of the large number of chairs recorded in the inventories of William Bache (1773-1820), Franklin's grandson and Bache's widow, Catherine (Wistar) Bache (1770-1820) (see Sotheby's, cited above; Page Talbott, "Franklin's Legacy: Documented Furnishings," Antiques (December 2005), pp. 64-73). While it is possible that both chairs were originally owned by Franklin and the chair offered here passed to the Whitalls via the Wistar-Bache family, it is also possible that they came from Catherine (Wistar) Bache's side of the family. Her brother, Thomas Wistar (1764-1851) was the grandfather of James Whitall's wife, Mary Wistar Cope (b. 1834), so it is very likely that the set was dispersed early on, with Catherine and Thomas Wistar each receiving at least one from the original set. Their father, Richard Wistar (1727-1781) stands as a likely first owner. The eldest son of the renowned glass maker, Caspar Wistar (1695-1751), Richard continued his father's Wistarburgh business, was a successful brass-button manufacturer and died leaving a large estate with lands in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia (John W. Jordan, ed., Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania (New York, 1911), pp. 259, 262). In addition to their father's estate, Catherine and Thomas Wistar are both listed as beneficiaries in the wills of their grandmother, Catharine (Jansen) Wistar (1703-1786) and their aunt, Sarah Wistar (1738-1815) (Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Wills, 1682-1819, available at ancestry.com).
The chair offered here may have descended directly from the Wistars to the Whitalls through the marriage of Mary Wistar Cope and James Whitall in 1856, but the brass plaque on the rear seat rail indicates that it was previously owned by James' father, John Mickle Whitall (1800-1877). From 1850, John Mickle Whitall lived at 1317 Filbert Street in Philadelphia, across the street from his future in-laws, Marmaduke and his wife, Sarah (Wistar) Cope, the daughter of Thomas Wistar, and the chair may have passed between neighbors (Hannah Whitall Smith, John M. Whitall: The Story of His Life (Philadelphia, 1879), pp. 200, 204).
Described by his daughter as a devout Quaker, romantic husband and fun-loving father, John Mickle Whitall was born in Woodbury, New Jersey and in his early years traveled the world on board trading vessels. In 1830, he married Mary Tatum and the couple resided in Philadelphia with summer homes in Atlantic City and near Haddonfield, New Jersey (Smith, passim). As indicated by the handwritten paper label on the underside of the chair's current slip seat, the chair was later in the house of their son, James Whitall (1834-1896), who appears in the 1870 and 1880 Census as living on Penn Street, Germantown, the address on the chair's label. The same label states that the chair was brought in 1900 to Jamestown [RI], where James' son John M. Whitall (b. 1858) had a summer house during the early years of the twentieth century (The Jamestown and New Shoreham Directory, 1922, 1926 and 1930). Providing evidence that other Wistar family material descended along these lines, portions of the Wistar Papers were given by the younger John M. Whitall to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (see www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/0700.htm).