The Elliot Family Queen Anne Shell-Carved Cedrela Compass-Seat Side Chair, New York, circa 1740

chair and original slip seat marked VI and bearing labels Ginio Morris, V. Brock and Virginia Morris Angel. Fragment of original blue wool slip seat show cover survived and current made to match.

William Henry Elliot, New York;
Richard McCall Elliot, New York;
Marjorie Elliot Henderson, Philadelphia;
Virginia Brock Morris Moorehead;
thence by descent to the consignor to;
Sotheby's, New York, Fine Americana and Silver, June 17, 1999, sale 7329, lot 172;
Alan Miller, Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

Proper right front leg cracked and re-glued in junction of seat rail. Lacking glue blocks.
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.

Retaining an old finish, this chair and its original slip seat are numbered VI. Its design reflects the influence of Boston chairs imported into New York from about 1735.¹ The low profile of the back, broad horseshoe seat, large squared claw and ball feet and tapered rear legs ending in rounded slipper feet are characteristics associated with chairs made in New York. These characteristics are found on a set of mahogany chairs with a pierced splat with the initials of Robert (1718-1775) and Margaret (Beekman) Livingston (1724-1800), who married in 1742.  Chairs from this set are represented in the collections of Yale University, the Museum of the City of New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, Bayou Bend, and Winterthur. 

A New York side chair at Winterthur has a similar overall design in the double-crook stiles, identical splat pattern, double-serpentine beaded shoe and pad feet.² Similar shell-carved knees with alternating projecting and receding lobes, squared claw feet and rear shaped feet are found on an armchair at Winterthur Museum from a set made for the Van Cortlandt family of New York.³ The shell and highly stylized acanthus carving on the crest rail relates to carving found on a New York side chair owned by Bernard and S. Dean Levy.⁴

¹ See Leigh Keno, Joan Barzilay Freund, and Alan Miller, “The Very Pink of the Mode: Boston Georgian Chairs, Their Export, and Their Influence,” American Furniture, edited by Luke Beckerdite, (Hanover and London, 1996): 266-306.
² See Joseph Downs, American Furniture (New York, 1952), no. 105.
³ See Joseph Downs, American Furniture, no. 26.
⁴ See Luke Beckerdite, “Immigrant Carvers and the Development of the Rococo Style in New York, 1750-1770,” American Furniture (Hanover and London, 1996): fig. 50, p. 257.