Philip D. Zimmerman
Dating William Savery’s Furniture Labels and Implications for Furniture History

American Furniture 2018

Full Article
Contents
  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    Figures 108 and 108a from Luke Vincent Lockwood, Colonial Furniture in America (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1913), p. 110.

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    Detail of the late 1770s label attached to the bottom of the top drawer of the dressing table illustrated in fig. 3.

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Dressing table by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, late 1770s. Walnut with tulip poplar and white cedar. H. 30 3/4", W. 34 5/8", D. 21 1/4". (Courtesy, Van Cortlandt House Museum and the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York; photo, Andrew Davis.)

  • Figure 4
    Figure 4

    Plates 88–93 from William Macpherson Hornor, Jr., Blue Book, Philadelphia Furniture (Philadelphia: privately printed, 1935), showing six Savery labels.

  • Figure 5
    Figure 5

    Detail of the ca. 1760 label on the side chair illustrated in fig. 6. This label is pl. 88 in Hornor’s Blue Book.

  • Figure 6
    Figure 6

    Side chair by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1760. Maple. (Private collection; photo, Dallas Auction Gallery.)

  • Figure 7
    Figure 7

    Side chair by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1775. Maple with Atlantic white cedar. H. 40 1/8", W. 21 7/8", D. 19 3/4". (Courtesy, Dietrich American Foundation; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 8
    Figure 8

    Detail of the ca. 1775 label on the side chair illustrated in fig. 7. The label is attached to the underside of the rush seat.

  • Figure 9
    Figure 9

    High chest of drawers by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1780. Mahogany. H. 94", W. 45", D. 24". (Private collection; photo, Sotheby’s)

  • Figure 10
    Figure 10

    Label for William Savery’s shop at the “Sign of the Chest of Drawers,” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1780. William Hornor published this label with the high chest illustrated in fig. 9, although it is on a slant-lid desk. The high chest bears a different strike of the same label. This label is pl. 93 in Hornor’s Blue Book.

  • Figure 11
    Figure 11

    Armchair by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1780. Mahogany, with tulip poplar, hard pine, and white cedar. H. 37 3/4", W. 30 1/2", D. 24 1/8". (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum; photo, James Schneck.)    

  • Figure 12
    Figure 12

    Tall clock case by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ca. 1780. (Antiques 14, no. 3 [October 1928]: 310.)

  • Figure 13
    Figure 13

    Chest of drawers by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1785. (Antiques 9, no. 2 [February 1926]: 77.)

  • Figure 14
    Figure 14

    Detail of the ca. 1785 label on the till of the chest illustrated in fig. 25. This label has Savery’s name only and is the same version illustrated as pl. 92 in Hornor’s Blue Book.

  • Figure 15
    Figure 15

    Detail of the ca. 1765 label on the desk illustrated in fig. 22. This label, which references joiners work and has Savery’s name in block letters, is pl. 91 in Hornor’s Blue Book.

  • Figure 16
    Figure 16

    Label of William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1765. This label, which references joiners work and has Savery’s name in italics and dingbat pattern 1, is pl. 90 in Hornor’s Blue Book. From Samuel T. Freeman and Co., The James Curran Collection of Rare Eighteenth-Century American Furniture, Philadelphia, March 11–12, 1940, lot 297.

  • Figure 17
    Figure 17

    Detail of the ca. 1770 label on the inside rear seat rail of the armchair illustrated in fig. 24. This label references joiners work and has Savery’s name in italics and dingbat pattern 2.

  • Figure 18
    Figure 18

    Label of William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1775. This label, which references joiners work and has Savery’s name in italics and dingbat pattern 3, is pl. 89 in Hornor’s Blue Book. It is on a desk. (Courtesy, Historic Odessa Foundation.)

  • Figure 19
    Figure 19

    Label of William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, late 1770s. This label, which references joiners work and has Savery’s name in italics and dingbat pattern 4, is from a privately owned desk. (Privately collection; photo by the author.)

  • Figure 20
    Figure 20

    Armchair by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1765. Woods and dimensions not recorded. (Courtesy, Winterthur Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, 64.1766.)

  • Figure 21
    Figure 21

    Side chair by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1765. Walnut. H. 39", W. 21", D. 20 1/4". (Courtesy, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.)

  • Figure 22
    Figure 22

    Desk by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1765. Walnut with tulip poplar and white cedar. H. 41 3/4", W. 38", D. 20 1/2". (Courtesy, Chester County Historical Society.)

  • Figure 23
    Figure 23

    Side chair by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, late 1760s. (Courtesy, Winterthur Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, 64.1713.)

  • Figure 24
    Figure 24

    Armchair by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1770. Walnut with yellow pine. H. 40", W. 29 1/4", D. 22 1/2". (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum; photo, James Schneck.)

  • Figure 25
    Figure 25

    Blanket chest by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1785. Walnut with tulip poplar and maple. H. 28 3/8", W. 48 1/4", D. 20 5/8". (Courtesy, Biggs Museum of American Art; photo, Carson Zullinger.)

  • Figure 26
    Figure 26

    Side chair by William Savery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1785. (Courtesy, Winterthur Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, 1976.1036.)