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Lot Essay
This set of six arm chairs presumably comes from a set of 24 armchairs made by Henry Connelly (1770-1826) for Mayor Thomas Willing (1731-1821) of Philadelphia in 1804. The Connelly chairs are derived from the pattern for "Parlour Chairs" from Thomas Sheraton's seminal The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book (London, 1793), pl. 33 (fig.1). For other chairs from this set, see James Biddle, American Art from American Collections (New York, 1963), p. 15; Sotheby's, New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords, vol. II, 28-29 October 2004, lot 293; Christie's, New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Bertram D. Coleman, 16 January 1998, lot 265; Christie's, New York, 21-22, 25 January 2010, lot 274.
The carving and turned legs with reeded details and bulbous feet recall the Connelly labeled kidney-shaped sideboard dated 1806 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. These chairs also relate to a famous set of ebony seating made by Connelly's contemporary, Ephraim Haines (1775-1837) and commissioned by Stephen Girard in 1806-1807. James Biddle suggests that the nearly identical carving on both sets could be by the hand of John R. Morris (Biddle, p. 15).
The carving and turned legs with reeded details and bulbous feet recall the Connelly labeled kidney-shaped sideboard dated 1806 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. These chairs also relate to a famous set of ebony seating made by Connelly's contemporary, Ephraim Haines (1775-1837) and commissioned by Stephen Girard in 1806-1807. James Biddle suggests that the nearly identical carving on both sets could be by the hand of John R. Morris (Biddle, p. 15).