Fine and Rare Chippendale Carved Mahogany Side Chair, Made by William Long (w. c. 1770-1785), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Circa 1770

Descended in the Duff family of Westboro, Massachusetts;

Israel Sack, Inc., New York.

Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, vol. 2 (Washington, DC, Highland House Publishers), pl. 947, p. 375;

Israel Sack Furniture Archive, Yale University, acc. no. 2391.

This chair is branded “Wm LONG”. William Long advertised in the Pennsylvania Packet that he was a “Cabinet-Maker and Carver from London, At the Rocking Horse, in Fourth street, opposite Union street. ¹  In Philadelphia Blue Book (1935), William M. Hornor describes him as a cabinetmaker of the first rank with the Penn family as clients. He notes that Long paid an occupational tax of £25 in 1786.²  In 1794, he advertised that he had on hand “a set of Mahogany cabriole chairs.” An armchair sold by Keno Auctions, Important Americana, January 24, 2020, lot 36 and currently in a private collection is also branded “Wm Long.”³

¹ William M. Hornor, Blue Book Philadelphia Furniture (1935): p. 80, 196.

² Ibid, p. 324.

³ William C. Ketchum, Jr., American Cabinetmakers (New York: Crown, 1995): 213.