The GRANT-MARSH Carved Cherrywood Side Chair, made by Eliphalet Chapin (1741-1807), East Windsor, Connecticut, 1775

Slip seat is marked VI. Retains a dark surface and its original carved corner knee brackets.

Purchased in 1775 by Ebenezer Grant (1706-1797) of East Windsor, Connecticut, who purchased them for his daughter Ann (1748-1838) and her husband, John Marsh (1742-1821) of Wethersfield;
To their daughter Lydia Marsh (1786-1880), who lived in their Wethersfield house;
To her nephew, John Huntoon Marsh (1854-1900?) and his wife Ellen Woodward (Pratt) (1855-1926);
To their son Charles Woodward Marsh (1870-1955);
To his cousin Lorraine Pratt (1889-1972) and her husband Walter D. Tubbs (1880-1972);
Ginsberg & Levy;
Bernard and S. Dean Levy

Kugelman, Thomas P. and Alice K. Kugelman with Robert Lionetti. Connecticut Valley Furniture: Eliphalet Chapin and His Contemporaries, 1750-1800. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society Museum, 2005, fig. 3.4, p. 135.

Secondary wood is white pine; retains original slip seat; one leaf tip to proper left front corner bracket replaced; old marks and scratches to extremities mainly to legs and feet.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

With its distinctive Gothic crossed back, this cherrywood side chair stems from a set of chairs made in 1775 by Eliphalet Chapin (1741-1807) for Ebenezer Grant (1706-1797), of East Windsor, Connecticut. Grant ordered them as part of a dowry for his daughter, Ann (1748-1838), on the occasion of her marriage to John Marsh (1742-1828), pastor of Wethersfield’s First Congregational Church. The set of chairs is recorded in an entry in his 1775 daybook, which lists a total of thirty-one pieces of furniture in the commission, including six tables, three beds, three sets of chairs, and one screen frame, all costing a total of 41.1.3 pounds. The furniture was delivered to Grant on December 5, 1775, the day before Ann’s wedding. This chair is one of the “1.2 doz molbor’o [chairs]” priced at “25/ditto 1/10” each.  This set and others from the Grant-Marsh commission are discussed by Joseph Lionetti and Robert Trent in “New Information about Chapin Chairs” published in The Magazine Antiques(May 1986): 1082-95.

After training in East Windsor, Connecticut, Eliphalet Chapin worked as a journeyman in Philadelphia, where he learned design and construction features which he continued to incorporate into his work once he returned to Connecticut.  These elements include the use of thru-tenons and two-piece vertical corner clocks in chairs with slip seats, such as this chair. Another unusual feature displayed on this chair and others with pierced splats is the use of pieced tips that extend from the back of the crest and lap over the splat. The Gothic interlaced splat with a superimposed X-motif represents the most elaborate pattern produced by his shop and the pierced carved knee brackets, which are rare embellishments, were labor intensive to produce.  These refinements account for the significant price paid for the set, which is equal to that of the set of chairs with diamond splats, cabriole legs and claw and ball feet also ordered as part of the Grant-Marsh commission.

The slip seat of this chair is numbered VI while the seat frame is not marked. Other chairs from this set survive. Four formerly owned by Bernard and S. Dean Levy are illustrated and referenced in their advertisement in The Magazine Antiques for January 1974. Two of the chairs sold by Levy to the Western Reserve Historical Society are illustrated in The Magazine Antiques, May 1976. One of those chairs is pictured as fig. 12 on page 1088 of “New Information about Chapin Chairs” published by Joseph Lionetti and Robert Trent in The Magazine Antiques May 1986. Levy sold the other pair from the set to James Thomson of Farmington, Connecticut. At his death, the chairs were sold at Christie’s, Important American Furniture, Silver, Prints, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, January 22, 1994, sale 7820, lot 253.