The Important Pair of Morris Family Chippendale Carved and Figured Mahogany Side Chairs, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania circa 1765

each retains an original slip seat. First chair marked IIII; seat cushion frame not marked. Second chair marked III.

Katherine Bohlen Family, Philadelphia. A watercolor by Edmund Darch Lewis in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania depicts an interior from the Bohlen family house.

These chairs have been in the consignor's family for more than two decades.

Chair III with later triangular braces added to back seat rails; proper right rear glue block replaced on chair III. Chair IIII proper right rear and proper left front glue blocks replaced; splat cracked at base; crest rail cracked at proper right junction of splat.
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.

Featuring a trefoil-pierced splat pattern, skirt pendant, and knee brackets taken from Chippendale's Director, this pair of chairs represents a popular chair design in Colonial Philadelphia undoubtedly made by multiple cabinet shops.¹  The present chairs are numbered III and IV. They appear to stem from the same set as a chair numbered VI currently in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.²  That chair has a presumed history of descent from Isaac Greenleafe (1715-1771), who married Catherine Wistar (1730-1771) in 1753, and descended through five generations of the family to Eliza Davids (b. 1895), their great-great-great granddaughter. Another chair appearing to stem from the set is illustrated in a David Stockwell advertisement in The Magazine Antiques (September 1951): p. 177.

Two other chairs from the same set, numbers I and V, were sold at Christie's, Property from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Nusrala, January 21, 2006, lot 666 ($464,000). Chair I was illustrated by Hornor in 1935 as the property of Eliza Davids.³  In the Christie's cataloging for the lot, Captain Samuel Morris (1734-1812) is proposed alongside Isaac Greenleafe as a possible original owner for the set.  Both men were great-great-great grandfathers of Eliza Davids and Captain Morris was the likely original owner of the "fox and grapes" high chest and matching dressing table also later owned by Eliza Davids.⁴

Three similar chairs bear the label of James Gillingham (1736-1781), a cabinetmaker working on Second Street in Philadelphia from 1768 to 1773.⁵  Two chairs from a related set attributed to Thomas Tufft (died 1788) were sold in these rooms, Property from a Private Collection, January 18, 2003, sale 7866, lot 909. Two other chairs from that set descended in the Smith-Marsh family and were sold in these rooms, Important Americana, January 16-17, 1999, sale 7253, lot 843. An additional chair with a history in the Smith-Marsh family is pictured in American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Vol. VII, P5026, p. 1785. Two others are in the collection of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Two pairs of chairs made as part of a related set sold in these rooms, Important Americana, January 17 and 19, 1997, sale 6957, lot 810 and The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords, Vol. II, October 28-9, 2004, sale 8016, lot 346.

¹ See Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director, London, 1754, pls. XIII, XIIII and XXIV.
² See Morrison Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, no. 54, p. 100-1.
³ See William Macpherson Hornor, Jr., Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture, 1935, p. 347.
⁴ See Hornor, pl. 118 and Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art (Philadelphia, 1976), pp. 132-4, cats. 104a, 104b.
⁵ Luke Vincent Lockwood, Colonial Furniture in America, 1926, Volume II, p. 94.