Chippendale Carved Mahogany Side Chair

Object Details

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Chippendale Carved Mahogany Chair

Bernard, Nicholas
ca. 1760-1765

wood; mahogany; yellow-poplar; Atlantic white cedar

Object Essay

This chair retains the overall configuration of the tassel-back design popular in Philadelphia, but differs in minor details of its carving, which is more elaborate in some areas and less well developed in others than on related chairs.^{1_{Conger and Rollins, Treasures of State, cat. no. 23 (Acc. No 71.140). These chairs were exhibited in the Girl Scouts loan exhibition (see Girl Scouts, no. 648), and are illustrated in Antiques 123, no. 5 (May 1983): 879.}} The ruffled vine ornament at the center of the crest rail, for example, is more contained within the shape of the crest than are the boldly scalloped shells carved on other examples. A third variation on this design incorporates latticework in place of either a shell or vines.^{2_{See Flanigan, no. 8.}} The acanthus leaves that descend along the outer straps of the interlaced splat are richly carved here. They are less rigid than the gadrooning found on other chairs, which converges at the center of the shoe and complements the lobed shell above. The molded stiles here were less costly to execute than the cabled fluting used on more expensive chairs, and their relative plainness contrasts with the elaborately carved banister. Finally, the beaded scrolls that converge at the center of the front seat rail undercut the mass of the wood, whereas the bold shell on other variants enhances the solidity of their stout mahogany rails. 

The same double scrolls appear on the front seat rails of chairs labeled by Thomas Tufft and by James Gillingham, as well as many other unattributed Philadelphia chairs, thus confirming the popularity of this design probably among several different cabinet shops.^{3_{See Hummel 1976, 67–68.}} An early owner of this chair, Ella Parsons, was a descendant of William Parsons, the surveyor general of Philadelphia, who succeeded Benjamin Franklin as head of the Library Company of Philadelphia.^{4_{Advertisement, Antiques 132, no. 5 (November 1987): 857. Although it is possible that Miss Parsons had inherited these chairs from their original owners, she was well known as a collector in her own right, and the chairs were exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1928 to 1936. Her collection was gradually dispersed in several auctions in the 1930s.}}

Thomas S. Michie

Excerpted from Jonathan L. Fairbanks. Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State. New York: Rizzoli, 2003.