A Fine and Rare Set of Eight Federal Satinwood-Inlaid and Carved Mahogany Dining Chairs, Baltimore or Philadelphia circa 1800

Originally owned by Philip D. Wolhopter of Savannah, Georgia, who purchased them in 1804;

Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., New York

Ex-Collection of Frank L. Horton, founder of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Charlottesville, Virginia, University of Virginia Art Museum, A Jeffersonian Ideal: Selections from the Dr. and Mrs. Henry C. Landon III Collection of American Fine and Decorative Arts, August 27 – November 23, 2005.

Ginsburg and Levy, Inc., advertisement, The Magazine Antiques 28, no. 5 (November 1935), 208

Comstock, Helen. "Transitional Features in American Chairs." The Magazine Antiques (May 1942): fig. 15, p. 314. An armchair is illustrated as originally in the home of Philip D. Wolhopter of Savannah and purchased by him in 1804.

Comstock, Helen. American Furniture. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1962, no. 448. The same armchair as above is illustrated as the property of Frank L. Horton and part of a set of two armchairs and six side chairs.

Fama, Vicki, et al, A Jeffersonian Ideal: Selections from the Dr. and Mrs. Henry C. Landon III Collection of American Fine and Decorative Arts. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Art Museum, 2005, pp. 98-9

Chairs with wear to corners of legs and wear to outer bead on stiles, several chairs with central patches at corners of crest rail at junction of stiles. Secondary wood appears to be ash, chairs refinished.
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.

Large sets of American Federal style seating furniture are a rarity and few survive today. An armchair from this set is illustrated in The Magazine Antiques for May 1942 as originally owned by Philip D. Wolhopter of Savannah, Georgia. Philip David Wolhopter (1769-1818) was a proprietor of the newspaper, Savannah Columbian Museum, which began publication on December 12, 1797. He was sole owner from 1809 until 1817, when the paper merged with the Savannah Gazette. He apparently purchased this set of chairs around the time of his marriage to Sara Moecock in 1804.

The design for the chairs derives from a "Parlour Chair" pattern illustrated by Thomas Sheraton in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book (London, 1793, p. 34) while the stepped arms are adapted from designs for "Drawing-Room Chairs" illustrated in the Appendix to his 1802 edition (pl. 6). Very similar stepped arms are found on two sets of elaborate Federal style seating furniture made in Philadelphia. One set, represented by a four chair-back settee and armchairs at the White House, four side chairs in the Kaufman Collection, and pair of armchairs at Winterthur Museum, was by tradition a wedding gift from James and Elizabeth Sloan to their daughter Mary Sloan (1796-1866), who married William Frick (1790-1855) of Germantown, Pennsylvania.¹ Extant armchairs at Winterthur Museum, the Kaufman Collection, and Bayou Bend stem from a second opulent set of at least eight Federal armchairs with upholstered backs, carving and applied composition highlighted with gilding.²

¹ See Betty Monkman, The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families, Washington, 2000, p. 238, Charles Montgomery, American Furniture, The Federal Period, New York, 1966, no. 93, pp. 144-5, and J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, New York, 1986, no. 45, pp. 128-9.
² See Montgomery, no. 92, pp. 142-3, and Flanigan, no. 46, pp. 130-1.