The Neoclassical period witnessed the reintroduction of painted furniture into formal interiors. This decoration, like inlay, was fashionable during the Late Baroque period but during the Rococo was superseded in favor of figured mahogany and rich carvings. These armchairs are unusual in Philadelphia, where the vogue for ornamental painting seems to have been restrained. In addition to their polychrome surfaces, the chairs exhibit a series of unusual elements, including the beading reminiscent of pearlwork borders on silver and the practical substitution of mahogany arms in place of painted ones.

Technical notes: Yellow-poplar, mahogany (arms); yellow-poplar. Microscopic examination of the chairs’ surface indicates that the present paint scheme is of a later date and that much of the original decoration has been abraded.

Related examples: Two examples remain at Cliveden, Germantown, Pennsylvania. See Konkle 1932, facing p. 267; Winchester 1959, p. 535; Shepherd 1976, p. 8; Hornor 1977, p. 266, pl. 430; Hendrickson 1983, p. 262. Reminiscent is a side chair illustrated in Antiques 103 (January 1973), p. 175.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, 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.