A CLASSICAL PARCEL-GILT AND EBONIZED MAPLE ARMCHAIR

This parcel-gilt and ebonized arm chair exemplifies the grandeur and sophistication of New York furniture from the classical period. With its scroll-form arms and carved paw feet this chair shows influence from the Egyptian Revival. In the 1820s Egyptian mummies were brought to the United States for study and imagery from ancient Egypt became very popular with wealthy New Yorkers including merchant Stephen Whitney, who owed a set of armchairs nearly identical to the subject chair. These armchairs are now in the collection of the Museum of the City New York (36.110.1ab, .2ab). Another extremely similar chair is in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum (18:2012). Both institutions attribute the chairs to Duncan Phyfe. An additional pair, also attributed to Phyfe, is illustrated in Elizabeth Feld and Stuart P. Feld, The World of Duncan Phyfe: The Arts of New York, 1800-1847 (New York, 2011), pp. 70-71, no. 32. A related example, also attributed to Phyfe, is in the collection of the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. This chair has a very similar form and carving but lacks a gilt and ebonized surface. Other related examples can be seen in the collections of Winterthur (57.739) and the Morris-Jumel Mansion.