A Very Fine Queen Anne Carved Mahogany Side Chair, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1745

slip seat and chair numbered VI

Gustav J. S. White Auctions, Newport, RI, June 2, 2004, lot 255.

Secondary wood: beechwood. Proper right style broken and re-glued at junction of crest rail; appears to retain its original beechwood seat frame; secondary wood is maple; seat and chair numbered VI; proper left and right side knee returns restored; proper right leg square with additional pins; the chair has been re-pinned. In the seat rails, proper right front has been cracked and reglued. Medial stretcher worn.
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.

Although the choice of imported mahogany was uncommon, references to its use occur from the 1730s as exhibited in a side chair at Bayou Bend that appears to be from the same set as the present chair.¹ The Bayou Bend chair exhibits the same attenuated form, yoked crest rail, vasiform splat on a molded shoe with a conforming beechwood slip seat, incised "lll". Its seat frame, incised "X", is constructed of thinly cut seat rails with the same front seat rail cyma-shaped contour. Additionally, both chairs feature front cabriole legs with flanking C-scrolls, flattened pad feet, block-and-spindle stretchers, and raked rear round legs. 

The sinuous cabriole legs with deeply carved C-scrolls of this chair closely relate to those on a side chair possibly from the same shop now in the collection of Mrs. Joseph Ott.²  The profile of the front cabriole legs below the juncture of the side stretchers of the Ott chair is almost identical and the stiles are rounded rather than flat. Two walnut side chairs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston that once belonged to William Ellery, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, also share a similar vocabulary although they lack the C-scrolls and have rounded stiles.³   Other chairs with a similar design include a walnut side chair at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,⁴ a Boston side chair, ca.1725-1730, in the collection of Hunter House, Preservation Society of Newport County⁵ and a Boston easy chair, ca.1730, at Bayou Bend.⁶

¹  David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman and Emily Ballew Neff, American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection, (Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts, and Princeton University Press, 1998), p.21, F.36.
²  John T. Kirk, American Chairs Queen Anne and Chippendale, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1972), p.129. fig.161.
³ The Anderson Galleries, Colonial Furniture The Superb Collection of Mr. Francis Hill Bigelow, January 17, 1924, lot 142.
⁴  Richard H. Randall, Jr., American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, (Boston: The Museum of Fine Arts, 1965), no.135, pp.172/3.
⁵ Joan Barzilay Freund and Leigh Keno. "The Making and Marketing of Boston Seating Furniture in Late Baroque Style," in American Furniture, ed. Luke Beckerdite (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 1998), pp.16/17, fig.27.
⁶  Ibid, p.18, fig.28.