The Captain Samuel Morris Pair of Queen Anne Carved and Figured Walnut Rounded-Stile Compass-Seat Side chairs, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania circa 1750

Both chairs were originally owned by Captain Samuel Morris (June 24, 1734-July 7, 1812), who married Rebecca Wistar, the daughter of the glassmaker Casper Wistar;

To their son Israel Wistar Morris (1778-1870), who married Mary Hollingsworth Paschall;
To their son Levi Morris (1807-1868), who married Naomi McClenachan (1811-1893);

Chair number II with slip seat IIIII:
To their daughter Emma Morris (1849-1912), who married James Shinn;
To their daughter Anna Shinn Maier (1874-1941);
Thence to her son;
Leigh Keno, New York;
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy G. Nicholson, Portsmouth, New Hampshire;
Christie's, Important American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, June 17, 1992, sale no. 7492, lot 143 as the property of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy G. Nicholson (sold for $104,500)

Chair number IIII with slip seat II:
To their daughter Sarah (Sally) Morris (1838-1880), who married George Vaux VIII (1832-1915);
To their son, George Vaux IX (1863-1927);
To his son, George Vaux X (1900-1996);
Freemans Fine Arts, Philadelphia, April 15-17, 1999 from the estate of George Vaux X (sold for $331,000)

Standing as superior examples of the Philadelphia Queen Anne style, these side chairs display a unified sculptural design, extremely fine construction, and high quality carving rarely matched on other seating furniture of the era. They are distinguished from contemporary examples by their rounded serpentine stiles, highly figured splats, seat rail rabbets cut from the solid, and finely carved claw feet with delicate toes and shallow webbing. The latter are consistent with the best Philadelphia carving of the late 1740s and early 1750s.

The side chairs stem from a set of chairs made for Captain Samuel Morris (1734-1812) and they descended directly through his family until the late 20^th century. Captain Morris was one of the original members of the First Troop of Light Horse in Philadelphia and served with George Washington in the Battles of Princeton and Trenton. In 1765, Captain Morris signed the Non-Importation Resolutions in Philadelphia that prohibited trade with Great Britain. He supported the cause in a letter written on May 18^th of that year to his nephew Samuel Powell, Jr., then in London, stating: "Household goods may be had here as cheap and as well made from English patterns. In the humour people are in here, a man is in danger of becoming invidiously distinguished, who buys anything in England which our Tradesmen can furnish."¹ He was a member of the Committee of Safety on June 30, 1775, and also a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1776, 1781, 1782, and 1783. After being elected a citizen of the colony in Schuylkill in 1754 (today the Schuylkill Fishing Club), he was in 1766 chosen Governor, a position he held until his death. He was also a founder and president for many years of the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club.

Both chairs have survived in very good condition and display the initials "SM" inscribed in white chalk on the back inside chair rail. One chair is numbered II on the inside front seat rail with its original slip seat II. The other chair is numbered IIII with an original slip seat IIIII. Chair I of the set is currently in a private collection. It shares the same history of descent as chair II offered here until it was sold by Leigh Keno at Sotheby's, Fine American Furniture, Folk Art, Silver and China Trade Paintings, June 23, 1988, sale no. 5736, lot 464. Another side chair from the set is illustrated in William M. Hornor, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture, (Washington, 1935, pl. 80) as the property of descendants of Captain Samuel Morris. An additional example appearing to stem from the set was a bequest of Adelina Worrell Fisher to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1938.² An armchair possibly from this set is pictured in Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture, New York, 1950, p. 29.³ Other illustrations of chairs from this set are found in The Magazine Antiques (June 1979): 1089 and (April 1988): 766.

¹ William MacPherson Hornor, Jr., Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture, Washington, D.C., 1977, p. 81.
² See Jack Lindsey, Worldly Goods: The Arts of Early Pennsylvania, 1680-1758, Philadelphia, 1999, no. 133, p. 167.
³ This armchair is also illustrated in Joseph Kindig, The Philadelphia Chair, no. 25.