Object Details
Federal Figured and Inlaid Mahogany Demilune Card Table
ca. 1795
Object Essay
The preferred shape of Maryland chair backs in the Federal period was the shield, followed closely by the oval and the heart. These last two shapes, based on English prototypes rather than design books, were extremely popular and were produced in large numbers in Baltimore’s cabinet shops. Documented heart-back chairs were made in Baltimore by 1794, and the history of certain examples suggests that they were available by the late 1780s.1The account book of the Baltimore cabinetmaking firm of Wilkinson and Smith lists heart-back chairs being made in that year. The Samuel Chase chairs at the Maryland Historical Society were made for a house built in 1787 and probably furnished shortly thereafter (Weidman 1984, no. 48).
This set of four heart-back chairs and other nearly identical examples in the Collection (Acc. No. 68.68.1–.2 and 74.103.1–.2) illustrate the standard Baltimore form: the broad back has double-beaded edges; three curved vertical banisters rest on a shaded fan inlay; the central banister has a pierced fan at the top and inlaid decoration; the inlaid eagle has the typical Baltimore design (see Acc. No. 69.58 for a detailed description); and the carving of the stylized waterleaves on the side banisters is very flat, with scratchy incising depicting the veins of the leaves. The tapered molded legs, while less frequently seen on Baltimore chairs than plain tapered legs, were widely used by the city’s chairmakers.
These chairs have been attributed to the Baltimore cabinetmaker William Singleton because of the initials “W.S.” branded on another chair in the set.2The original set of six chairs was owned by Ginsburg and Levy. Two, including the “W.S.” branded chair, belonged to a private collector and were on loan to the Diplomatic Reception Rooms for several years (location now unknown). The chairs are published in Conger and Pool, 9; Federico and Allen, 42; and Guidebook to Diplomatic Reception Rooms, 45. Singleton was a prominent member of Federal-period Baltimore’s cabinetmaking community and the only one known with these initials. After working independently for at least a year, Singleton began a partnership with William McFadon in 1790 that lasted until 1795. They advertised, “From the experience one has had in Europe and the different parts of this continent, and the ability of both, they flatter themselves to be able to give general satisfaction . . . they doubt not their manufactures will be found equal to any imported or made on the continent.”3Maryland Journal, May 18, 1790. Another of the firm’s advertisements may be significant in light of the Virginia provenance of this set of chairs: “Orders from any Part of this, or any of the neighboring States, will be thankfully received and duly attended to.”4Ibid.
This set of chairs was recorded as having belonged to the Haxall-Hall-Moncure families of Richmond, Virginia. Its founder, Philip Haxall, immigrated to Petersburg, Virginia, from Exning, Suffolk, England, in 1780. In 1801, he married Clara Walker of “Kingston,” Dinwiddie County, and, by 1809, had moved to Richmond.
Gregory R. Weidman
Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.