The chair has a serpentine crest rail carved overall with low-relief foliate ornament, an open trefoil splat carved with scrolls and leafage, fluted stiles, a trapezoidal slip seat frame with a central raised shell, cabriole front legs with grasses at the knees, claw-and-ball front feet, and raked and rounded rear legs. Inside the seat frame is the numeral IIII.

The chair is in a style that appears to have been popular in Philadelphia in the years before the Revolutionary War. Comparable examples, with variations, are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and other institutions.

Bibliography: Sotheby's NY, Important Americana: Furniture, Folk Art and Decorations, 10/15/1999, Lot 63.

Descended in Franklin's family with a history of having been owned by him