The James Family Important Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Chest-on-chest, attributed to Thomas Affleck, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1775

Appears to retain its original cartouche, hardware and surface.

Abel (1726-1790) and Rebecca (Chalkley) James, at Chalkley Hall;
To their daughter, Phoebe C. James (1818-1904), who married Saunders Lewis (1813-1893);
To their son Morris J. Lewis (1852-1934), who married Maria Drayton;
To his niece, Edith Meade (1880-1968), who married Horace H. Francine;
To their daughter, Phoebe M. Francine (1913-2007), who married Carroll Wetzel;
Thence by descent to the present owners.

Hornor, William M., Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture, (Washington, D.C.: Highland House Publishers, 1988), pl. 147. The chest is illustrated as the property of Mr. and Mrs. Horace H. Francine.

Secondary woods: yellow pine and poplar. Proper left lower gharter column base loose on upper case.
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.

Family tradition notes that these chairs were among the furnishings of Dawesfield, the country house of James (1753-1795) and Elizabeth Morris (1746-1826), and they descended in their family until the present time. Their daughter, Hannah (1773-1842), married Thomas Chalkley James (1766-1842), of Chalkley Hall in nearby Frankford, Pennsylvania. William Hornor published an armchair from the same set owned by Lydia T. Morris that once stood at Chalkley Hall.¹ Three additional chairs from the set are owned by a James family descendant.

The Gothic taste popularized in colonial America by the English pattern books of Matthew Darly and Thomas Chippendale is incorporated into the Rococo style design of these chairs.²  The splat is inspired by medieval architecture and here rendered as two tiers of Gothic pointed arches between outward splaying posts and beneath a particularly broad crest rail. This unusual splat is found on a set of chairs with cabriole legs and claw feet that descended through the Carpenter-Howell family of Philadelphia.³  A chair from the latter set is currently is the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and two others have been published.⁴ Five side chairs stemming from a closely-related set were sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries, Americana Collection of the Late Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, Part 2, May 17-20, 1944, lot 367. Two other extant chairs with seats upholstered over the rails stem from another related set that belonged to William White, the first bishop of Pennsylvania.⁵

¹ See William M. Hornor, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture, Washington, D.C., 1988, pl. 166.
² Darly's book, A New Book of Chinese, Gothic and Modern Chairs was published in 1751 and Chippendale's, The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director was published in 1762.
³ See Hornor, pl. 167.
⁴ See Morrison Heckscher, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, no. 60, p. 108 and Joseph Kindig, The Philadelphia Chair: 1685-1785, Harrisburg, 1978, no. 47.
⁵ Referenced in Heckscher, p. 108.