Cabriole armchair, painted white and gold; c. 1800; Philadelphia. This sumptuous painted armchair with upholstered back and carved and applied composition ornament highlighted with burnished gold was one of the most fashionable chairs when made. Hepplewhite called chairs with upholstered backs cabriole chairs, and this term seems to have been generally used. However, Sheraton called the type drawing-room chairs, and that name was re¬tained by the Philadelphia cabinetmakers Joseph B. Barry & Son when they had two of Sheraton’s armchairs re-engraved on their trade card (W. M. Hornor Jr., Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture, 1935, PI. 432). Of two related chairs, Plates 32 and 34 in his Drawing Book (1802), Sheraton remarked: “These chairs are finished in white and gold, or the ornaments may be japanned; but the French finish them in mahogany, with gilt mouldings.”

Mahogany furniture is commonly regarded today as being in the highest style, but it was not always so. In Jefferson’s inventory of the White House furnishings taken when he left the Presidency in 1809, twelve lots of chairs variously described as “crimson and Gold,” “blue and Gold,” “Gold and green,” and “black and Gold” are called fashionable; but the word does nol occur in a single listing of mahogany chairs, even those with “crimson damask bottoms.” The vogue for painted and gilt furniture was probably heightened by the popularity of French fumi• ture among United States leaders. From 1790 onward, Jefferson, Monroe, John Adams, and others acquired it while in France. Washington bought some at the dispersal of the effects of Count de Moustiers, the first French minister to the United States. Much of it was finished in gold leaf or painted white or gray and enlivened with gilt.

As early as 1787, William Long, “Cabinetmaker and Carver, Late of London,” announced in the Pennsylvania Packet of Philadelphia that he made “French Sophas in the modern taste, on as reasonable terms as them of the oldest fashion . . . Cabriole and French Chairs on reasonable terms.” Among Long’s stock advertised after his death in 1794 were “a few sets of fashionable elbow painted chairs” and “a set of Mahogany cabriole chairs.” Several factors point to Philadelphia as the place where this superb chair was made. The general outline and the stepped-down arms, although here fitted with pads, are comparable to those on other fine armchairs made in that city. Philadelphia chairs are frequently found with straight tapered and reeded legs with a drum at the top and a turned spade foot.

Dimensions: height 36.5 inches, width 2O.25, depth 18.25. Materials: ash (no secondary woods); upholstered in green tabaret, silk with moired and satin stripes.