Incollect Magazine - Issue 6

Incollect Magazine 95 pass up. While the chair may have been purchased as a placeholder in the event an equally remarkable child’s chair made in southeastern Pennsylvania became available, that opportunity never arose. Only two Windsor forms collected between 1967 and 1984 remain in the Foundation, a pair of Lancaster fan- back side chairs purchased at Pennypacker Auction Center in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1969 and a southeastern Pennsylvania Windsor stand purchased from a Massachusetts dealer in 1970 (Fig. 4). These early Windsor acquisitions reveal Dietrich’s practical approach to collecting that can also been seen in his strategy of collecting other forms of Americana—he sought to acquire superlative and documented examples produced during the eighteenth century. The table was a key addition to his growing collection of Windsors due its rarity and graceful form. The release of Charles Santore’s The Windsor Style in America  7 and the loan exhibition, The Windsor: A Philadelphia Style , that Santore organized for the University Hospital Antiques Show in Philadelphia in April 1982, just months after his book was published, was instrumental in Dietrich’s renewed interest in his Windsor collection. In Santore (1935–2019), a specialist in American Windsors, Dietrich found a trusted advisor who would play an active role in his pursuit of exemplary examples. In 1985, Dietrich was able to add a rare early Philadelphia high-back Windsor armchair with the brand of Thomas Gilpin to his collection (Figs. 5, 6). Thomas Gilpin was one of the earliest Windsor chairmakers in America and may have been responsible for the introduction of carved volutes at the ends of the crest rail and the substitution of baluster-turned arm supports for the sawn slat supports of the earliest Philadelphia high- back chairs. In the following years other documented Windsors were added to the collection including a Philadelphia sack-back armchair by William Widdifield (active c. 1768–d. 1822) and a bow-back side chair by Gilbert Gaw (active 1793–1824). Another key addition in 1987 was a high-back Windsor armchair with a rail-less back and bracing spindles that extend from the crest to a tailpiece at the back of the seat (Fig. 7). Few examples of this late version of the Philadelphia high-back Windsor chair survive. To obtain this rare example of a Philadelphia Windsor form in superb condition it was purchased for what was at that time a record price for a Windsor chair at auction. With the purchase of a splendid Philadelphia high- back Windsor highchair (Fig. 8) at Sotheby’s sale of the collection of Catherine and Howard Feldman in 1988, Dietrich deemed his collection of American Windsors complete. Santore had illustrated the highchair in his first book on Windsors and included it in his University Hospital Antiques Show exhibition. The chair had been coveted as a consummate example of the art of Windsor chairmaking since the beginning of the twentieth century when it was owned and illustrated by Wallace Nutting. 8 The maker skillfully handled the significant design challenge of reducing the size of an adult high- back chair—stretching the legs to raise the seat and diminishing the size of the back—while creating a chair with pleasing aesthetics and proportions. Fig 6: (Detail, fig. 5) T. GILPIN brand on seat pommel. Gilpin was the first American Windsor chairmaker to identify his work. Of perhaps a dozen Gilpin chairs that survive, the majority are stamped with his name brand. Photo by Gavin Ashworth.