Philadelphia Antiques Show 2018

41 Alexandra Kirtley and David de Muzio, “A Hollingsworth Family Sofa and its Upholstery Revealed,” Antiques and Fine Arts Magazine , Spring 2007, 218; “Greenhill: The Philadelphia Residence of Mrs. W. Logan MacCoy,” The Magazine Antiques, November 1954, 392. 42 Alexandra Kirtley, “The Ties that Bind: New Light on Philadelphia Cabinetmaker Thomas Affleck,” The Magazine Antiques , September/October 2010, 153. 43 Kirtley, “Affleck,” 155 – 156; “Side Chair,” Object Curatorial File, American Art Department, Philadelphia Museum of Art, accessed March 5, 2018. T he strength of the baroque and the beginnings of rococo seen in the chest of drawers come to fruition in this chair, attributed to Scottish émigré cabinetmaker Thomas Affleck (1740–1795). The chair features several hallmarks of Philadelphia’s restrained interpretation of rococo, such as scallop shells on the top and corners of the chair’s back and on its seat, the curved design of its back splat, and ball-and-claw feet. The balanced proportion and design of the chair, as well as the intricate carving found on the top of the chair’s back and the tops of the front legs make this an especially fine example of an eighteenth-century Philadelphia chair. This chair was made for Quaker merchant Levi Hollingsworth (1739–1824) and his wife, Hannah Paschall Hollingsworth (1744– 1833), who lived close to the headquarters of Levi’s mercantile business at 16 Dock Street in Philadelphia. The chair was likely part of a large commission of furniture made around the time of their marriage in 1768. The Hollingsworths are known to have owned a pair of high chests of drawers with dressing tables to suit, a round tea table, an arch-backed sofa, a sideboard table, and a set of six side chairs. 41 Through gifts and purchases from the descendants of the Hollingsworths, the Museum had previously acquired one of the family’s carved high chests, the sideboard table, and their sofa, which retains its original yellow moreen upholstery. The addition of this chair to the collection broadened the representation of the family’s furnishings. The surviving pieces from this set demonstrate the skill of their maker, who, based on several large payments made by the Hollingsworths in 1768, was likely Affleck. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1763 and quickly secured work in the city, perhaps due to his Scottish roots and the Quaker faith he shared with many of his patrons, including the Hollingsworths. 42 The furniture he made for the Hollingsworths showcased the Quaker aesthetic popular in some circles of Philadelphia, in which fine materials were used without excessive embellishment often summarized as “the best sort but plain.” The style of this chair was a deliberate choice made by both producer and consumer. Other furniture, especially the chairs, fire screen, tables, and easy chair commissioned from Affleck and Benjamin Randolph by John and Elizabeth Cadwalader, demonstrate that Affleck and his contemporaries were capable of producing sophisticated furniture that was further ornamented with elaborate carving by London-trained carvers. Comparing the Hollingsworth and Cadwalader suites exposes Affleck’s artistic range as well as the spectrum of taste in eighteenth century—a comparison of walnut and mahogany, of Quaker and Anglican tastes, and of local and London fashions. 43 Both suites reflect the choices of elite Philadelphians in the third quarter of the eighteenth century, and as such represent only a fraction of the furniture made and used at the time. Attributed to Thomas Affleck, American (born Scotland), 1740–1795, Chair 1765–1770 Walnut, yellow pine 40 3/16 x 22 1/16 x 22 7/16 inches (102.1 x 56 x 57 cm) Gift of Holly Rogers Nardi, and gifts (by exchange) of R. Ball Dodson, the, heirs of J. Stogdell Stokes, Walton Hooker Nason, Jr., James K. DeArmond, Jr., and Dr. Anna Janney DeArmond, R. Wistar Harvey, Mrs. Sarah Bierly Dutton Spang, Elizabeth Wheatley Bendiner, Emily Bacon Morrison in memory of Edward and Lizzie W. Bacon, Lydia Thompson Morris, David Stockwell for the Walter J. Johnson Memorial, Lisa Norris Elkins, 2011 2011-88-1 Thomas Affleck, Chair W 128 W