A Fine Pair of Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Side Chairs

A Fine Pair of Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Side Chairs
Philadelphia, C. 1770 
Height 39"

These chairs are distinguished by elaborate and robust carving which relates them to some of the best examples of colonial Philadelphia seat furniture. Of handsome proportion, these side chairs were once part of a larger set, given one is marked III and the other VIII. The offered chairs are similar to a set of pierced-splat examples now in the State Department collection, as well as a similar armchair in the Winterthur Museum. The solid back-splat is a more conservative version of the elaborately-pierced and carved splats on similar chairs from the period. The present pair of chairs makes skilled use of well-figured mahogany on the solid splats, balancing well with the bold shells on the crestail and apron.

Provenance: Ex-collection Brown Ten Eyck David Stockwell, Wilmington, Delaware Admiral Edward P. Moore and Barbara Bingham Moore

$22,000 for the pair