Side chair, ca. 1765
Photo courtesy of Sotheby's
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Photo courtesy of Sotheby's

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Related Publications

Talbott, Page, "Franklin's Legacy: Documented Furnishings" (The Magazine Antiques, Vol. CLXVIII, No. 6 (December, 2005), pp. 64-73.

Talbott, Page, "The House that Franklin Built" (Antiques & Fine Art, Vol. VI, Issue 5, January-February 2006, pp. 232-38)

Talbott, Page, ed., Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World (New Haven and London: Yale University, 2005) (companion book to exhibition of same title)

Provenance
According to the catalogue entry, the chair has a family tradition of having been passed from Sarah Franklin to William, her son, to his wife Catherine Wistar Bache, to her daughter, Sarah Bache, who married Dr. Charles Hodge, thence to their son, Caspar Wistar Hodge, who married Angelina Post, who married Malcolm MacLaren in 1900; thence to later owners in the Franklin line, who sold it.

In January, 2007, the chair was offered for sale by David A. Schorsch and Eileen M. Smiles, dealers in American antiques. cf. Antiques & Fine Art, January -February 2007,pp. 58-59 illus. William Bache's inventory, taken 10/17/1814, includes entries for 17 Mahogany Chairs; his wife's inventory, taken in February, 1821, lists 10 Mahogany chairs in the Front Parlour and six Mahogany chairs in the Back Parlour. Both inventories include other entries that cannot be interpreted to describe this chair. It is possible that the wood in this chair was misidentified as mahogany by the person taking inventory of the objects in the house.

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