I mentioned in the last post that I had not seen the large ceremonial Philadelphia compassed armchair illustrated in John Walker’s 1983 publication, Experts Choice: 1000 Years of the Art Trade, until a recent online search turned up a copy that included the page with the chair. Now that I have images of all of the six chairs known, I’ll use this short post to illustrate them for comparisons and future discussions about the set as information on all the chairs is not coalesced elsewhere. Following this, I will return briefly to the Laird Family chest for details of an illuminating discussion of the brasses I’ve been having with Joan Parcher, a knowledgeable authority on eighteenth and nineteenth brass castings.
Chair stamped II on the front seat frame, loose seat replaced. Philadelphia c. 1755. Black walnut, hard pine. Private collection. Sold at Christie’s, January 24, 2025. See it here. Photo Christie’s.Chair marked III on the front seat frame and the loose seat. Philadelphia c. 1755. Black walnut, hard pine. Winterthur Museum. Photo Winterthur.Chair marked IIII on the front seat frame and loose seat. Philadelphia c. 1755. Black walnut, hard pine. Private collection. Sold at Christie’s, January, 21, 2022. This chair descended in the Bacon and Wood families in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Photo Christie’s.Chair marked V. Philadelphia c. 1755. Black walnut, hard pine. Private collection. Sold at Sotheby’s October 7, 2006. Photo Sotheby’s.Chair marked VIII on the front seat rail, loose seat replaced. Philadelphia c. 1755. Black walnut, hard pine. Winterthur Museum. Photo Winterthur.Mark unknown. Philadelphia c. 1755. Black walnut, secondary wood unknown. Current location unknown. Image from Experts Choice: 1000 Years of the Art Trade, John Walker, 1983. David Stockwell advertisement. Chair unmarked. Philadelphia c. 1755. Black walnut, hard pine. Private collection. Sold at Sotheby’s, April 19, 2023. Previously in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The front and side seat rims are integral with the front and side seat frames. All the other chairs have applied seat rims. The chairs with applied seat rims have the loose seat front and sides cut from the same pieces of walnut. The front and sides of the loose seat frame are then walnut and the back of the frame is hard pine. This armchair has a loose seat made entirely of hard pine. Photo Christie’s.
In Proportion to the Trouble 