Very Rare Queen Anne Carved Mahogany Side Chair, Philadelphia, circa 1750

seat marked I, slipseat marked VI, crest rail with repairs.

Joe Kindig, Jr. & Son, York, Pennsylvania;
Margaret Wilson Lewis du Pont, Wilmington, Delaware.

Lindsey, Jack. Worldly Goods: The Arts of Early Pennsylvania, 1680-1758, (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1999), no. 130, p. 169.

Crest shattered, shaved and patched at juncture, later cushion seat.
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.

This side chair embodies the Queen Anne aesthetic in its proficient use of the serpentine line, achieving a sculptural effect by emphasizing form and minimizing ornament. Its design is a variation of the fiddleback chair pattern, with paired volutes defining the upper section of the splat.  Though represented by a number of extant chairs in walnut and mahogany, this pattern was relatively uncommon in Philadelphia seating furniture in the Queen Anne style.  This side chair is distinguished from contemporary chairs by its stiles with an incised edge and blocked front seat rail. Two chairs from the same set are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, numbers III and VI of a set and were formerly in the collection of Louis Guerineau Myers.  For an illustration of one of the two, see Morrison H. Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Late Colonial Period: The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles, (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Random House, 1985), p. 84, pl. 39.  Two additional examples were in the Thomas B. Clarke collection and published in Luke Vincent Lockwood, A Collection of English Furniture of the XVII & XVIII Centuries, New York, 1907, pl. XXIX.

A similar side chair made of walnut with a plain seat rail was sold in these rooms, Property of Rear Admiral Edward P. Moore and Barbara Bingham Moore, September 26, 2008, sale 8446, lot 60.  An armchair perhaps made as part of that same set is in a private collection and illustrated as a “masterpiece” in Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture, New York, 1993, p. 29.