It is generally believed that the Late Baroque style, introduced in Philadelphia about 1730, was largely disseminated through quantities of imported Boston-made chairs. Although the impact of the Boston model is most readily apparent on simple, inexpensive chairs (see B.69.223), it also influenced this more costly walnut version, with its related yoke-shaped crest rail. The chair’s design is further enhanced by the graceful, inward curving rear legs, complementing its cabriole front legs, a refinement more common in English furniture. The intaglio carving on the chair’s knees also appears on some of William Savery’s documented furniture; however, that detail by itself is hardly sufficient to support an attribution to Savery.

Technical notes: Black walnut; black walnut (slip seat front and sides), southern yellow pine (slip seat back). The construction is typical of Philadelphia chairs from this period. The front legs are round-tenoned through the seat rail, and its applied lip secures the seat. The side seat rails are tenoned completely through the stiles. The cutouts from the front and side seat rails form the corresponding elements in the detachable seat. The front and side seat rails are incised III. The slip seat is marked with two chiseled gouges resembling a ratchet.

Related examples: Antiques 65 (March 1954), p.197; Antiques 89 (February 1966), p. 165; Antiques 129 (May 1986), p. 908; Parke-Bernet, New York, sale 599, November 8–11, 1944, lot 410; Downs 1952, no. III; PMA 1976, pp. 34–35, no. 27; Heckscher 1985, pp. 79–81, no. 36; Fairbanks and Bates 1981, pp. 91,104; Sotheby’s, New York, sale 6731, June 22,1995, lot 219; Zimmerman 1996, pp. 739–40.

Book excerpt: Warren, David B., Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.