44 
House & Garden 
A CABINET-MAKER of COLONIAL AMERICA 
In William Savery of Philadelphia Collectors May Find 
a Figure to Rival Duncan Phyfe 
GARDNER TEALL 
W HILE wide publicity has been 
given the name of Duncan Phyfe, 
the early New York cabinet-maker, few 
are cognizant of the fact that Colonial 
America produced in the person of Wil¬ 
liam Savery of Philadelphia a master- 
craftsman whose work, so far as we have 
been able to identify it, is, from the point 
of view of artistic w'orth, superior to that 
of the New Yorker. 
For a long time speculation has been 
rife as to the origin of certain unusually 
fine pieces of furniture which had come 
down through generations in certain Phil¬ 
adelphia families, and as to furniture 
found in other eastern states whose kinship 
with the Philadelphia pieces was unmis¬ 
takable. Even as late as the appearance of 
Mr. Luke Vincent Lockwood’s valuable 
and scholarly two-volume work on “Co¬ 
lonial Furniture in America” (edition of 
1913), William Savery’s activities as a 
Colonial cabinet-maker were practically 
unknown to students of the, history of 
American furniture. Then came the dis¬ 
covery of the printed address-label of the 
maker of a very beautiful mahogany dress¬ 
ing table (or lowboy) preserved in the 
old Van Cortlandt Manor House, New 
York, reading as follows, and first repro¬ 
duced in Mr. Lockwood’s book; “William 
Savery, at the Sign of the Chair, near the 
market on Second Street”. It was the dis¬ 
covery and publication of this label that 
A tripod table of mahogany, which 
is attributed to William Savery. 
From the collection of the Metro¬ 
politan Museum of .4rt in New York 
awakened interest which led to the recov¬ 
ery of such information as we have to the 
present regarding the old Philadelphia 
cabinet-maker whose name had rested in 
obscurity too long, although his works 
were treasured by their owners and eagerly 
sought by discriminating connoisseurs who 
recognized their superior quality although 
they were ignorant of the name of the 
master who created them to the glory of 
American craftsmanship. One of these 
collectors was IMr. George S. Palmer, 
whose taste and enthusiasm were rewarded 
by the acquisition of some of the finest 
examples of Colonial American furniture 
coming to light. These passed into pos¬ 
session of the ^Metropolitan Museum of 
Art, and in due course will be installed 
in the new wing of American art now be¬ 
ing erected througli the munificence of Mr. 
and Mrs. Robert W. de Forest. 
The pieces in the Palmer Collection 
and others of the same genre awakened 
the interest of Mr. R. T. Haines Halsey 
(to whose researches the present writer is 
greatly indebted), and he set about to dis¬ 
cover all that was discoverable concerning 
Savery. With the assistance of Mr. Alfred 
C. Prime some interesting facts were 
Ijrought to light, and it is from these rec¬ 
ords that the meagre biographical data 
which we have of Savery are derived. 
The surname of Savery is not an un¬ 
common one in Colonial America. Early 
Detail of a Savery highboy, showing 
the decoration of a drawer, with ro¬ 
sette shell motive surrounded by 
acanthus scrolls. The Rosenbach Co. 
(Left) Front view of a chair made 
by William Savery of Philadelphia 
abotU 1760 and now owned by Mr. 
A. H. Savery. Pennsylvania Museum 
(Right) A silhouette view of an au¬ 
thentic Savery chair. This is one of 
six made for an old Pennsylvania 
family by the Colonial cabinet-maker 
