This is a celebrated pair of chairs with an important provenance and are the ultimate refinement of the heart back style. While the style of these chairs was popular, one has to look carefully to see refinements, and that is what connoisseurship is all about. For example, most do not have carved tassels on the front legs; and also the brackets that hold the heart back are often straight and not stylistically curved as in this example. This pair is simply the best of the form. Part of this set in the Museum of the City of New York.
This pair was presented to me in a letter dated 1990 by an old-time dealer by the name of Kenneth Hammitt, all of which speaks to these chairs.
Provenance: Originally owned by Robert Fulton, founder of the Fulton Steamship Company. (Two of a larger set.)
Illustrated: Another chair from Fulton’s original set was donated by his direct descendants to the Museum of the City of New York and is illustrated in: Comstock, Helen. American Furniture, plate 431 as well as Miller, Isabelle V. Furniture by New York Cabinetmakers: 1650 to 1860, cat.no. 79.
Height: 39 in. Width: 22 in.
Revised March 9, 2026 11:13pm