Armchair (Louis XVI style), 1770-1790
Photo courtesy of Constance...
Click to Enlarge

Photo courtesy of Constance V. Hershey

Other Views
Photo courtesy of Constance...
Photo courtesy of Constance...
Photo courtesy of Constance...
  • Overview
  • Description
  • Further Information
Provenance
The chair was bought from dealer John Walton, who had bought it from Edward Fenno Hoffman III. With the chair came a letter from Hoffman, citing a line of descent from Polly Stevenson Hewson to Frances Bradford and thence to Hoffman.

NOTE: Examination of the chair by then-curator of Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum Calvin Hathaway resulted in an unenthusiastic opinion. The chair is worthy of further research, in an effort to reveal whether it is French, English or even Philadelphian. It is possible that it was first owned, not by Franklin himself, but by Mary Stevenson Hewson, and acquired the Franklin attribution at a later time.

postmaster@benfranklin300.org Terms of Use Credits