Americana & International - Day Two
Sat, Jan 12, 2019 09:00AM EST
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Lot 292
Important Philadelphia Chippendale easy chair
Estimate: $100,000 - $150,000
Sold for
$183,000
Sold Price includes BP
Bid Increments
| Price | Bid Increment |
|---|---|
| $0 | $25 |
| $500 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $200 |
| $5,000 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 |
| $20,000 | $2,000 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 | $20,000 |
| $500,000 | $50,000 |
Exclusive on Bidsquare
Important Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany easy chair, ca. 1755, with an arched crest, flaring wings, horizontal conical arm rests, compass seat, and acanthus carved front legs terminating in ball and claw feet and flaring rear legs with pronounced pad feet. This exuberant newly discovered example is similar in design to a chair at The Winterthur Museum that is pictured in Joseph Downs American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods, fg. 78.
Provenance: Ruth Keator Fredericks, Colts Neck, New Jersey, ca. 1940 and thence by descent in the family of Bruce Fredericks.
*Pook & Pook would also like to thank Walter Mullen for preparing the chair for photography and exhibition. Pook & Pook would also like to thank furniture historian Alan Miller for his full report on the chair:
While in most respects, this is a typical Philadelphia compass seat easy chair with claw feet, acanthus knees, and double c-scroll arms, it also has elements that depart from standard Philadelphia practice, particularly its cabriole rear legs. Other Philadelphia easy chairs with cabriole and semi-cabriole rear legs are known but they are rare. The well-known Logan easy chair has cabriole rear slipper feet. Famous examples at Winterthur also pre-date this chair; one has trifid front and rear feet and the other has faceted pad, or octagonal feet. At least one other trifid foot easy chair is known. Two claw foot Philadelphia easy chairs have semi-cabriole rear legs, and an unpublished chair and these examples have modified pad feet. This chair is the only Philadelphia claw foot easy chair to have surfaced with fully cabriole rear legs. The chair maker used standard side and rear knee blocks and omitted the rear brackets under the side rails that typically serve to increase the tenon surface in the side rail to rear leg joints. These rear legs probably indicate that the chair maker—at least the one responsible for the rear legs—was a recent immigrant bringing his training and construction habits from England or Ireland. The front legs of this chair are not as unusual as the cabriole rear legs but are still a little out of the ordinary. They are cut from slightly heavier stock than is typical and thus are more pronouncedly curved and with larger than typical feet, a feature shared with the Willing/ Francis/ Fisher chair (Blue Book, 227) and a few other chairs. The carver of the knees, while not identifiable by name, is a relatively prolific Philadelphia carver of the 1750’s and early 1760’s. They were responsible for a good deal of case furniture carving including the high chest base (Blue Book, 153) and several related high chests and dressing tables, clock cases, and many chairs, including many of the famous shell-eared tassel-back chairs, including Downs 127—which seems to share this easy chair’s feet—and Sotheby’s Parker sale number 2149. The front knee blocks on the Pook and Pook chair are novel. The upholstery frame of this chair is completely typical of Philadelphia in this era both in construction and materials except for the horizontal arm cones—the upper components of the double c-scroll arms shaped like powder horns. These are larger and less tapered than is typical and their upper elements are now truncated. This chair is an interesting and novel addition to the known catalogue of Philadelphia easy chairs. While its unusual rear legs did not catch on or become standard practice they do help fill out the story of the diversity and fluid nature of Philadelphia’s cabinetmakers in the mid eighteenth century. Condition
Pook & Pook, Inc. does not offer in-house packing or shipping, but we are happy to assist buyers in coordinating shipping with an outside shipping company. Listed below are the companies that typically ship for our customers, but you are welcome to use a shipper of your own choosing. If you have questions prior to purchase, please email the shipper well in advance of the auction. Be sure to include the sale date, lot number, description and estimate with all correspondence. How the shipping process works once you have purchased an item at Pook & Pook: 1. You contact one or more of the shippers listed below (or a shipper of your own choosing) to obtain competitive quotes. Be sure to provide the shipper with the following information: Your name, lot#(s) purchased, invoice total, insurance required, and the address to which the items are being shipped. Please note that most shippers cannot generate a quote until after an item is purchased, but they can give you an estimate. Once you choose a shipper, let them know you would like them to ship your purchase. 2. You must then contact Pook & Pook, Inc. and let us know which shipper you would like to use (email shipping@pookandpook.com or call (610) 269-4040). 3. Items are then picked up at Pook & Pook, Inc.’s auction house by the shipper. If you are utilizing a shipper for smaller items, we have pick-up times scheduled at least once a week following each auction (i.e. The UPS Store typically comes every Friday), but if necessary, special pick-up times can be arranged if your require your items immediately (please note that there will be additional charges for special pick-up times). For larger items, please have the shipper call us to arrange a pick-up time. Shippers can pick up items at our auction hall between 9AM and 4:30PM Monday through Friday. All items must be picked up, or shipping arrangements made within two weeks of the day of sale. Any items left at our facility for more than two weeks following the sale will incur storage fees at a rate of $5.00 per lot per day (this rate applies to all items regardless of size or value). 4. Once the shipper has your items, please allow 3-5 business days for them to process and package your purchase. If payment for shipping has not yet been made, the shipper will contact you to arrange payment and then ship your items. 5. Please note that full payment for your items must be received before we will turn your item(s) over to the shipper. Please also note that if you pay with a personal check or international money order/cashier’s check, your items will be given a release date of 10 days after your payment is deposited. This date is supplied to the shipper and they cannot ship your item(s) until after that date unless you provide Pook & Pook, Inc. with a copy of your bank statement showing that the check has cleared your account (we cannot check this from our bank). For shipment of small items the following shippers have offered their services: 1. The Packaging Store in Lansdale, PA (hello@packandshipnow.com, phone: (215) 361-6940 or fax: (215) 361-6941) 2. The UPS Store in Downingtown, PA (store3093@theupsstore.com, phone: (610) 518-5010, ), fax: (610) 518-5476), contact: Bruce Cobb (if choosing this shipping option, please specify The Downingtown UPS Store) For shipment of large items the following shippers have offered their services: 1. Craters and Freighters in Plymouth Meeting, PA (philly@cratersandfreighters.com or (610) 397-0488) or (866) 397-0488) Area: entire US and abroad 2. Mt. Everest Moving Company in Ephrata, PA, (EverestMoving@gmail.com or (717) 314-7647) Contact: Conrad Martin
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463 East Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335 – Phone: (610) 269-4040 – Fax: (610) 269-9274
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