A PAIR OF FEDERAL CARVED MAHOGANY CANE-SEAT ARMCHAIRS

This pair of chairs may be related to a set of twenty-four made by cabinetmaker Henry Connelly (1770-1826) for Mayor Thomas Willing (1731-1821) of Philadelphia in 1804. One chair from the group of two dozen can be found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art illustrated in James Biddle, American Art from American Collections, New York, 1963, p. 15 and six more are advertised in The Magazine Antiques (October 1960), p. 293 by Ginsburg & Levy, New York. Two more pairs possibly belonging to the group were sold at auction: one at Christie's, New York, The Collection of Mrs. Bertram D. Coleman, January 16, 1998, lot 265 and the other at Sotheby's, New York, The Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords, October 28 and 29, 2004, lot 293.