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Lot Essay
Carefully designed and assuredly executed, the carved ornament on this side chair demonstrates the virtuosity of one of Philadelphia’s most important eighteenth-century carvers. Known today as “the Garvan high chest carver” as his work was first identified by Alan Miller on a high chest in the Garvan Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery, this individual is responsible for some of the most acclaimed survivals of Philadelphia furniture from the Rococo era. The chair features hallmarks of the carver’s work, such as the folded and crosshatched leaf tips. Yet, the carver’s true genius is seen in the overall design in which through the careful selection and placement of ornament, he creates, in Miller’s words, “clarity” and sets himself apart from his competitors. Several different carvers rendered this splat design, but for another set carved by the same master, see Christie’s, New York, Highly Important American Furniture: Property Deaccessioned from Stratford Hall Plantation, 4 December 2003, lot 1. Other chairs from the same set as that offered here include a second example that was formerly in the collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair and has been given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an example at Winterthur Museum (Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (New York, 1952) no. 124) and one illustrated in William MacPherson Hornor’s Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (Washington D.C., 1935), pl. 327.
This side chair along with its mate is seen in a 1932 photograph of Mrs. Blair’s bedroom at Blairhame, her Tuxedo Park home. See Christie’s, New York, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 21 January 2006, p. 23, fig. 14.
This side chair along with its mate is seen in a 1932 photograph of Mrs. Blair’s bedroom at Blairhame, her Tuxedo Park home. See Christie’s, New York, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 21 January 2006, p. 23, fig. 14.