A SET OF SIX CLASSICAL MAHOGANY GONDOLA CHAIRS

Based on family history, this set of six gondola chairs was made by Duncan Phyfe for Luman Reed, a prominent American Art patron. Reed commissioned Phyfe to furnish his new home at 13 Greenwich Street. These chairs were originally a set of twelve as they are marked I, II, IIII, VIIII, X, XII on the inner seat rails. This set could be the "12 Mahogany Chairs" in the Parlour or the Picture Gallery both listed in Reed's 1836 property inventory. For a very similar example see John L. Scherer, New York Furniture at the New York State Museum (Virginia, 1984), p. 76, no. 76. Another nearly identical example is illustrated in Charles L. Venable, American Furniture in the Bybee Collection (Austin, 1989), pp. 148-149, no. 68. Another set of six chairs of the same form are in the collection of Bayou Bend (B.64.39.1-6).