A Chippendale Mahogany Camel-Back Sofa, Philadelphia

This sofa was purchased by Samuel Wagner, Jr. (1842-1937), a Philadelphia lawyer and author of Reflections of an Elderly Youth. He married Anne Leonard Harlan in 1893;
to their son, Samuel Wagner Jr. (1895-1939), a banker who married Susan Groome in March of 1934;
to their son, the present owner

The combined effort of a cabinetmaker and upholsterer, the camel-back sofa form represented here corresponds to the description "Soffas Marlborough Feet" listed in the 1772 and 1786 Philadelphia price list, with the additional refinement of "bases" terminating the feet. Sofas of this type were extremely expensive and not common in Philadelphia, even among affluent families. The boldly arched crest rail and steeply-pitched outward-scrolling arms are classic characteristics of the Chippendale style, and Marlborough feet became fashionable in Philadelphia about 1765. The absence of peaks on the back and moldings on the legs, however, suggests a date early in the Federal period during the last quarter of the eighteenth century.

Broadly proportioned and measuring nearly 8 feet in length, this handsome sofa was, according to family tradition, purchased by Samuel Wagner (1842-1937), a prominent Philadelphia lawyer, at an auction held at a house once occupied by George Washington. The house referenced may have been Robert Morris' brick mansion on High Street, which was rented on Washington's behalf for use as his Philadelphia "White House." Built by the widow of William Masters, about 1760, and passed to their daughter Mary at her marriage in 1772 to Richard Penn, the house was sold by Penn to Robert Morris in 1781 and used by Sir William Howe as his headquarters during the occupation of Philadelphia, before Washington rented it. Considered one of the grandest in Philadelphia, the house boasted tables and doors of "superb mahogany," brass hinges and locks described as "curiously bright," and every piece of furniture "a masterpiece of the cabinetmaker's art" (James Thomas Flexner, George Washington and the New Nation: 1783-1793, 1969, pp. 112-3).

Robert Morris (1734-1806) was a partner in Willing & Morris, the most successful counting house in the city, as well as a member of Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution. In 1781, he was appointed Superintendent of Finance and established the first national bank. After returning to private life, Morris engaged in land speculations, lost his immense fortune, and spent the years from 1798 to 1801 in Philadelphia's infamous debtor's prison. William Hornor notes in Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture that Morris' "things were sold during his financial troubles" and mentions a pair of knife boxes purchased by Governor John Penn (p. 262). Perhaps originally owned by Morris and acquired by Samuel Wagner from his family, this sofa has descended in the Wagner family of Philadelphia since its purchase.

Hornor illustrates in pl. 99 of Blue Book a camel-back sofa with hairy paw feet as the sofa that "sloped across the Green drawing Room of President Washington's High Street Mansion." In 1797, upon his retirement to Mount Vernon, Washington noted on a list of "Articles in the Green drawing Room which will be sold" his "Sopha of Green flowered Damask with two Cushions," which originally cost 30 pounds. Washington sold the sofa to Robert Morris, who in turn sold it to the Robinson family; it is now in the collection of Independence Hall. Washington may have purchased the sofa locally, as he was known to have patronized a number of Philadelphia craftsmen such as John Aitken, Benjamin Randolph, and James Reynolds (Hornor, p. 268, 289).

A related Philadelphia camelback sofa with Marlborough feet and similar broad proportions is illustrated in plate 202 of Hornor's Blue Book as the property of Harry G. Haskell, Esq. One in the collection of the U.S. Department of State displays a serpentine rail but is otherwise very similar (see fig. 1). Another Marlborough example with a serpentine front rail from the Harrison Wood family is in the collection of Bayou Bend, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (see David Warren, et al, American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection, 1998, F101, p. 60). An additional example was sold in these rooms, Property from a Private Collection January 18, 2003, sale 7866, lot 900.