The McDaniel Family very fine and rare Chippendale carved mahogany lolling chair, Boston, Massachusetts circa 1770

Appears to retain its original surface.

McDaniel Family of New Hampshire;
Thomas Shea;
Purchased from him through his agent, R. N. Gibson

Proper left medial talon missing. Secondary woods maple and pine.
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.

Based on patterns for French chairs published by Thomas Chippendale in The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director (London, 1762, p. XIX), chairs with upholstered high-backs and open wooden arms enjoyed a limited popularity during the Colonial period in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Known as lolling chairs, such chairs were high in price due to the expense associated with their upholstery and acquired as status symbols by their wealthy owners. Through the 1760s and 1770s, John Singleton Copley used a chair of this type for his affluent Boston patrons, including Mrs. Isaac Smith (painted 1769) who sat for him in an upholstered armchair.  Those with cabriole legs and claw feet are particularly rare today and the present chair is one of the few surviving examples of the form.

For a closely related armchair of this type, see one also displaying a straight crest rail and claw feet from the collection of Norvin H. Green that sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries, Important American Furniture: Property from the Estate of the Late Cornelius C. Moore, October 30, 1971, lot 126. Two additional examples, one with a flat crest rail and pad feet and the other with a serpentine crest rail and claw feet, both attributed to Boston, are in the collection of Winterthur Museum and illustrated in Nancy Richards and Nancy Evans, New England Furniture at Winterthur, 1997, nos. 95-6, p. 177-9. Another sold in these rooms, Important American Furniture from the Collection of the Late Thomas Mellon and Betty Evans, June 19, 1998, sale 7164, lot 2145.

Three others from Rhode Island with serpentine crest rails and claw feet include two attributed to the Goddard-Townsend School of Newport formerly in the Johnson Collection (see Ralph Carpenter, Jr., The Arts and Crafts of Newport, Rhode Island, 1640-1820, Newport, 1954, pl. 25) and one made in Providence that was sold in these rooms, Important Americana: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lammot Du Pont Copeland, January 2001, sale 7757, lot 351.