The Lambert Family Chippendale Mahogany Side Chair, carving attributed to Nicholas Bernard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1750

John S. Walton Inc., New York

Dr. William S. Serri, New Jersey

John Walton, Inc., Jewett City, Connecticut

Sotheby's New York, American Folk Art and Furniture, October 14, 1989, sale 5905, lot 347

Wolf Family Collection No. 981 (acquired from the above)

Number VII of its set with a slip seat marked XI, this side chair stems from a set of twelve side chairs that reputedly descended in the Lambert family of Lambertville, New Jersey.¹ As a set, these chairs represent the most profusely carved Rococo style side chairs known from Colonial Philadelphia. Eight side chairs from the set survive: number IIII in a private collection (Ex-collection Philadelphia Museum of Art), number V in the collection of the Chipstone Foundation (1954.1), number VIII in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, number IX in the Dietrich American Foundation, number X at Colonial Williamsburg (1977-226), number XI at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (51.140), number XII at Winterthur Museum (1958-3091, Ex-Reifsnyder collection), and one unmarked chair in the Kaufman collection, National Gallery of Art (72.6).²Representing a popular Philadelphia chair pattern, the chairs in this set are entirely covered with opulent carving in the full vocabulary of the Rococo aesthetic. The carving is attributed to the Philadelphia carver, Nicholas Bernard (1732-1789), who executed it in his opulent mode, circa 1750-1755, in which he emphasized the control of line over the sculpting of mass. He overlaid as essentially early Georgian frame with exceptional naturalistic carving on the serpentine crest rail, the interlaced splat, stiles, shoe, molded top edge of the seat, seat rail, knees and feet. The knee carving consists of bilaterally symmetrical leaves separated by a V-shaped dart articulated with intaglio lunettes. The same knee pattern appears on other chairs, case furniture, and tables attributed to Bernard.³ The claw and ball feet and small in size with an extra joint in the rear talon and do not utilize the entire thickness of the stock. They relate to those on the earliest case furniture from the late 1740s attributed to Bernard including a high chest of drawers in a private collection.⁴ Two sideboard tables at Winterthur and a sideboard table purchased by Keno Inc. at Sotheby’s, and a turret corner card table at Winterthur and owned privately also survive in this opulent mode.⁵ Based on the scarcity of extant examples, Bernard does not seem to have worked extensively in this mode.

A side chair from another set represents a modified version of Bernard’s seating furniture in this opulent style.⁶ Bernard executed a similar though less ornate set of chairs represented by a side chair at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.⁷ A side chair in a private collection with a shell-carved crest, ears and seat rail, fluted stiles, and acanthus-carved knees displays another version of the design.⁸ Other pieces reflecting Bernard’s mastery of line made slightly later than this side chair include a sideboard table at the Rhode Island School of Design and its mate at Bayou Bend.⁹ Bernard’s mature working style, in which his designs and techniques were well integrated, dates to circa 1755-1760. Soon after, he is recorded in partnership with Martin Jugiez (d. 1815), who from thenceforth appears to have executed all the carving while Bernard managed the business. For additional information on Nicholas Bernard and a partial listing of furniture attributed to him, see Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, “A Table’s Tale: Crafts, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” American Furniture (Hanover and London, 2004).¹⁰

¹ When chair XIII now at Winterthur sold at the Reifsnyder sale, it was noted to be “From the Lambert, Family, Lambertville, N.J.” John Walton advertised a pair in 1954 that he purchased directly from the Lambert family. Given their date of circa 1750, the chairs were likely not owned by John Lambert (1746-1823) as previously thought. When Chair IIII was sold in 2012, it was suggested that the chairs could have been owned by the Coryell family of Lambertville, which was previously named Coryell’s Ferry and later the site of George Washington crossing the Delaware).

² See William M. Hornor, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (Washington, 1977), pl. 336 (Ex-Collection Philadelphia Museum of Art) also Christie’s, Important American Furniture and Folk Art, January 20, 2012, sale 2533, lot 111; Morrison Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1985), no. 51, pp. 96-7; Alexandra Kirtley, American Furniture, 1650-1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, (New Haven and London, 2020, no. 31, p. 70; Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Furniture at Chipstone (Madison, WI, 1984): no. 62, pp. 142-3.

³ See Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, “A Table’s Tale: Craft, Art, and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” American Furniture, edited by Luke Beckerdite, (Hanover and London, 2004), figs. 18, 30, 31, pp. 11, 17, and 18.

⁴ See ibid, fig. 13-14, pp. 9-10.

⁵ See ibid, figs. 20-3, p. 13.

⁶ See Robert Bishop, The American Chair, (New York: Bonanza Books): no. 152, pp. 123-133.

⁷ See Beckerdite and Miller, fig. 34, p. 20.

⁸ Ibid, fig. 19, p. 12.

⁹ Ibid, fig. 25, p. 14.

¹⁰ Ibid, pp. 2-45, endnote 7, pp. 42-3.