IMPORTANT CHIPPENDALE CARVED AND FIGURED MAHOGANY CHEST-ON-CHEST, THE CASE ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS AFFLECK (1740-1795), CARVING ATTRIBUTED TO HERCULES COURTENAY (1744-1784), PHILADELPHIA, CIRCA 1770

Robert Kennedy Wurts (1871-1944) and his wife, Katherine Beach Newbold Wurts (1874-1927);

Thence by descent to their daughter, who sold it at Sotheby’s, Fine Americana, October 26, 1991, sale 6227, lot 410;

The Phillip B. Steer Collection of Americana;

Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana: Silver, Porcelain, Prints, Folk Art and Furniture, January 22, 2000, Sale 7420, Lot 673;

C.L. Prickett Antiques, Yardley, Pennsylvania.

William MacPherson Hornor, Jr., Horner's Blue Book, Philadelphia Furniture, plate 173 (caption reversed with plate 172).

Retaining its original urn-and-foliate carved cartouche and brass hardware, this chest-on-chest represents the collaborative effort of two of Philadelphia’s finest eighteenth century artisans. The design and construction follow the shop tradition of Thomas Affleck (1740-1795). Trained in Edinburgh and London, Affleck consistently produced high quality work comparable to leading English cabinetmakers at his shop on Second Street in Philadelphia. He was also one of the few cabinetmakers who owned a personal copy of Thomas Chippendale’s, The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker’s Director, which underscored and emphasized his interest in emulating high-style English furniture in the latest London fashion. The design for this chest-on-chest was based upon several “Library Bookcase” and “Desk & Bookcase” designs illustrated in the 1762 edition with the scroll pediment, urn-and-foliate cartouche, and dentil molding all taken from Chippendale’s patterns.¹

The exceptional carving found on this chest relates to work attributed to Hercules Courtenay (1744-1784), the highly talented carver who apprenticed with the London designer and carver, Thomas Johnson, before moving to Philadelphia by 1765. He was working in Benjamin Randolph’s shop by 1766 and in 1769, he was working and advertising independently as a carver and gilder. A similar carving attributed to Courtenay is displayed on a chest-on-chest made by Affleck for Vincent Loockerman (1722-1785) of Dover, Delaware.²

Based on surviving examples, Affleck made several chest-on-chests of this type. In 1775, he made one for David Deshler that is documented by Deshler’s 'Receipt Book' for the years 1772-1796. The latter chest descended through the Roberts, Canby, and Rumford branches of the Deshler family until a descendant gave it to Colonial Williamsburg in 1983 (acc. no. 1983.292). Another chest-on-chest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was presumably commissioned from Thomas Affleck by William Logan in 1772.³ One at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is pictured in Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art (Philadelphia, 1976), fig. 76, p. 96. Two others attributed to Affleck with a pitched pediment include one in the Hennage Collection and one with a history in the James family that sold in these rooms, January 19, 2008, lot 186.⁴

In 1935, this chest-on-chest was published as pl. 172 in Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture by William MacPherson Hornor. It was owned at the time by Robert Kennedy Wurts (1871-1944) of Philadelphia, although its owner is misidentified in the caption as Miss Elizabeth Cuthbert Thomas. Son of Charles S. Wurts (1830-1907) and Mary S. Wurts (born 1844) of Philadelphia, Robert Kennedy Wurts was a Princeton graduate who later worked as a banker in Philadelphia. He married Katherine Beach Newbold (1874-1907) on November 19, 1896 and they had three daughters. After Robert Wurts’s death in 1944, this chest remained in the possession of one of his daughters until 1991 when it was sold in these rooms.

¹ Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (London, 1762): plates XCI, XCII, and XCIII.

² See Christie’s, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. James L. Britton, January 16, 1999, sale 9068, lot 614.

³ See Morrison Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1985), fig. 147, p. 227.

⁴ Elizabeth Stillinger, American Antiques: The Hennage Collection (Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990).