Female rights activist's $121,000 chairs lead Americana sale

The Freeman's American Department held its auction of American Furniture and Decorative arts, yesterday (April 21).

The sale's emergent highlight was a set of six walnut Chippendale chairs from Philadelphia, US, dated circa 1770, and marked with Roman numerals I through VI.

Each 40 inches high, the chairs bore a serpentine chest rail and a shell flanked by carved volutes, shell-carved legs and ball feet.


Six walnut Chippendale chairs from Philadelphia, US, dated circa 1770

Most recently held in the Stevenson Easby Collection of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, the chairs provenance can be traced back to Cornelius Stevenson (1779-1860).

Stevenson was a Philadelphia lawyer married to Sara Yorke Stevenson, the prominent American archaeologist and prominent female rights activist.

The chair's remarkable provenance saw the lost almost double its $60,000-80,000 estimate, eventually selling for $121,000 including buyer's premium.

 

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