A Mifflin family Chippendale carved walnut side chair Philadelphia, PA, circa 1770

Shaped solid splat, fluted stiles, crestrail with carved leafage to center flanked by scrolls, scrolled ears, central shell to apron, seat frame corners with rocaille detail, and legs carved with acanthus and floral motifs, ball-and-claw feet; brass plaque mounted to back of seat frame, engraved "Lloyd Mifflin 1876-1878." Inner seat rail marked "IIII."

H: 40 in. W: 24 in. D: 17 in.

Note

According to William Macpherson Hornor, Jr., Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (1935), this chair belongs to a set made ensuite with a dressing table and high chest for the Mifflin family. See illustrations: chair from set (Pl. 132), dressing table (Pl. 133), and high chest (Pl. 130). The group is briefly discussed by Hornor on page 112. The dressing table and high chest from this suite were sold at Christie's, October 18, 1996, lot 134, are now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, promised gifts of the McNeil Americana Collection.

For a related pair of chairs with pierced splats, see Sotheby's, September 26, 2008, lot 69.

Provenance

This chair was likely made for John Mifflin (1714-1759), a wealthy Philadelphia merchant at the time of his second marriage to Sarah Fishbourne (1733-1816) at the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, December 23, 1755, possibly thence to Joseph Mifflin (1751-1791) who married Deborah Richardson (1753-1789) in 1773, thence to their son Lloyd Mifflin (1786-1878) at the time of his marriage to Hannah Hacker in 1823. The brass plate bears inaccurate dates for Lloyd Mifflin. Lloyd Mifflin was the nephew of Thomas Mifflin.

A Greenville, Delaware estate.