Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Bonnet-Top High Chest of Drawers, case attributed to William Wayne (w. 1756-1786); carving attributed to 'Nicholas Bernard' and Martin Jugiez, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1760

C.L. Prickett Antiques, Yardley, Pennsylvania.

William Wayne worked as a cabinetmaker in Philadelphia from circa 1756 to 1786 and married Sarah Gillingham, daughter of the cabinetmaker John Gillingham. His business with Robert Moore on Front Street was dissolved in 1769, the same year he took on the apprentice Stephen Maxfield, a cabinetmaker with whom he would later establish a lumber merchant partnership. Tax records indicate Wayne achieved a level of success, and his patrons included some of Philadelphia’s most prominent citizens such as Samuel Wallis, a Quaker who commissioned a substantial amount of furniture when he married Lydia Hollingsworth in 1769.