Very Rare Chippendale Carved Mahogany Open Armchair, Attributed to Daniel Trottier, Philadelphia, circa 1785

Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 11 - October 10, 1976

Secondary wood is oak. Corner glue blocks replaced. Both arms with repaired breaks at top of downswept arms.
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The unique carved slat-back chairs centering pierced foliate carved embellishments and foliate-carved corners are distinctive characteristics of the cabinetmaker, Daniel Trotter. Trotter opened his first shop on Walter Street shortly after his marriage to Rebecca Conarroe on November 9, 1773. The only documented furniture that can be traced to Daniel Trotter's shop are two demilune ends to a dinning table, a semicircular bureau, four bedsteads and two sets of chairs made for Stephen Girard between 1786-1796. Trotter's innovative and elegant design of his slat back chairs with central carved ornaments is not found on any English or other American designs. Based on this unique design many chairs have been attributed to Trotter: an armchair and side chair owned privately and illustrated in William MacPherson Hornor, Jr., Blue Book: Philadelphia Furniture William Penn to George Washington (Washington, D.C., 1935), p. 222, figs. 367 and 368; a side chair in the American Museum in Britain is illustrated in Helen Comstock, American Furniture: Seventeen, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Century Styles (Exton, Pennsylvania, 1962), fig. 283; another at Winterthur is illustrated in Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period (New York, 1966), p. 137, no. 82; a side chair in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is illustrated in The Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, Winterthur Museum, no. 67.1782.

Provenance:

Joseph Kindig, Jr., York, Pennsylvania;
Mr. & Mrs. Bertram D. Coleman, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania;
Christie's New York, The Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Bertram D. Coleman, January 16, 1998, lot 261;
Leigh Keno American Antiques, New York

 

Literature:

Anne Castrodale, "Daniel Trotter: Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia Cabinetmaker," Winterthur Portfolio 6, Charlottesville, 1970, 151-184;
Lita Solis-Cohen, "Living with Antiques: The Bryn Mawr home of Mr. and Mrs. Bertram Dawson Coleman," Magazine Antiques (April 1966), p. 573;
The Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, Winterthur Museum, no. 66.1708;
Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976, cat. no. 117;
Anne Castrodale, MA thesis