Very Fine and Rare Set of Eight Federal Carved Mahogany Dining Chairs, carving attributed to Samuel Mcintire, Massachusetts, circa 1800

comprised of a set of six side chairs and a contemporaneous pair of armchairs; appear to retain their original surface.

One arm chair with proper right arm support cracked, several chairs with replaced glue blocks, overall excellent condition.
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.

Provenance:

Two armchairs and four side chairs:
Tarbell and Bubier Families, Massachusets;
New England Gallery, Inc., Robert A. Blekicki, Andover, Massachusetts;
Joseph R. and Sue H. Keown Collection;

Two side chairs:
Joe Kindig, Jr., York, Pennsylvania;
Mr. and Mrs. Sifford Pearre, Baltimore, Maryland;
Joseph R. and Sue H. Keown Collection;

Set of chairs:
Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 1, 1992, lot 629;
Leigh Keno American Antiques, New York;
Sotheby's, New York, Property from a Private Collection, January 18, 2003, sale 7866, lot 842.

Literature:

“Living with Antiques: the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Sifford Pearre of Baltimore, Maryland, " The Magazine Antiques (December 1962): 631;
Antiques and The Arts Weekly. August 21,1992, p. 76;
Harvard, Ralph, "Living with Antiques: A New York Apartment." The Magazine Antiques September 1998: pl.VIII, p. 336;
Maine Antiques Digest, October 1992, p. 8-C.

The overall design and exceptional carving associate these chairs with furniture made in Salem, Massachusetts. The unique detail of the carved graduated bellflowers on the stiles distinguishes them from others of their type. The panel carved with a bow, swag and central tassel and rosettes with trailing bellflowers are trademarks in the documented work of Samuel Mcintire (1757-1811). The bow, swag and tassel motif appears on the overdoor of the enclosed porch of the Benjamin Pickman house in Salem. Nearly identical carved graduated bellflowers appear on the gateposts for the house built in 1799 for Elias Hasket Derby, the wealthy Salem merchant and Mcintire's best known patron. Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for which Mcintire billed Madam Elizabeth Derby in 1796 (see Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture, New York, 1993, p. 127). A set of armchairs attributed to Mcintire from the Peirce-Nichols House in Salem offers a closely related design and carved central tablet with a punchwork ground (see Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from the Israel  Sack Collection, Vol. VI, P4703, p.1679 and Fiske Kimball, Mr. Samuel Mcintire, Carver, 1940, Fig. 37).

This set of Gothic-back dining chairs represents a popular seating furniture pattern made in Federal America, with a design based upon plate 9 of The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide (London, 1794) by George Hepplewhite. The overall design and exceptional carving associate the chairs with furniture made in Salem, Massachusetts. The unique detail of the carved graduated bellflowers on the stiles distinguishes them from others of their type.

The panel carved with a bow, swag and central tassel and rosettes with trailing bellflowers are trademarks in the documented work of Samuel Mcintire (1757-1811). the architect who designed a number of the finest Federal houses in Salem, in addition to their carved architectural embellishment. The bow, swag and tassel motif appears on the overdoor of the enclosed porch of the Benjamin Pickman house in Salem. Nearly identical carved graduated bellflowers appear on the gateposts for the house built in 1799 for Elias Hasket Derby, the wealthy Salem merchant and Mcintire's best known patron. Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for which Mcintire billed Madam Elizabeth Derby in 1796 (see Albert Sack, The New Fine Points of Furniture, New York, 1993, p. 127). A set of armchairs attributed to Mcintire from the Peirce-Nichols House in Salem offers a closely related design and carved central tablet with a punchwork ground (see Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from the Israel  Sack Collection, Volume VI, P4703, p.1679 and Fiske Kimball, Mr. Samuel Mcintire, Carver, 1940, Fig. 37). These chairs may be the ones commissioned from Mcintire by Jerathmael Peirce, when he remodeled his Salem house at 80 Federal Street for the marriage of his daughter Sarah to George Nichols.

Other closely related chairs are in the Sage-Webb- Wilkins House in Salem, as well as in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (see Richard Randall, American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, (Boston: 1965), nos. 169-71, pp. 211-12); Yale University (see Patricia Kane, 300 Years of American Seating Furniture, (Boston, 1976), no. 153, p. 173); and the Henry Ford Museum Isee Robert Bishop, The American Chair: Three Centuries of Style, New York, 1972, no. 368, p. 245). Additional examples are il lustrated in Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection, Volume V, P4114, p. 1243, VI, P4703, p. 1679, VII, P5736, p. 1903, and IX, P6135, p. 2520.