Description:
One of a set of six Hepplewhite paint-decorated side chairs (55.039.1-.4 and 58.024-.25) with an oval back with cock plumes and a bow-know pattern in the splat, and a painted design primarily in greens and yellows, and green stripes on the legs, on a brown ground. The six chairs came from Connecticut dealer, John K. Byard, who also sold another another two chairs, probably from the same set, in 1953, which were then sold at Sotheby's in 1997 (lot 191). In a letter to the buyers (the Keenes) published in Sotheby's 1997 catalogue, Byard noted that the set came from a branch of the Lattimer family of Salem, Massachusetts, and that he thought "that they may have been made in Pennsylvannia, although, like the Derby chairs, the painted decoration was probably done in Salem." The "Derby chairs" refer to a set of 24 chairs bought by Salem merchant Elias Haskett Derby in 1796 through his Philadelphia agent, Joseph Anthony; however, HD's six chairs are far simpler, and provide a decorative and less costly alternative to carved or applied ornamentation. It has been suggested, but not documented, that the painting may have been done by Robert Cowan (1762-1846), an ornamental painter working in Salem around 1800.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+55.039.3 |
