AFA Winter 2017

A more tenuous but intriguing connection might exist between Thomas Hooper and William B. Phillips Jr. In addition to serving in Massachusetts politics, Phillips was at the same time the president of the Massachusetts Bank, where Thomas Hooper was employed. Further archival evidence is needed to determine whether the chair may have passed from Phillips’ ownership to Hooper’s during this time. Certainly, the chair’s connection to an owner as prominent as the lieutenant governor would strengthen the argument that this chair would have been seen by many wealthy visitors and thus have been an influential design source in its day in Boston. Another English chair of the same design is now in the collection of Winterthur Museum and was formerly owned by Frederick Beck of Brookline by 1907. It is thought that Beck inherited the chair from his sister Sarah Phillips Beck (1816– 1902), suggesting yet another link to explore regarding the Phillips family, their decorative arts collection, and where they may have acquired these pieces. 2 Certainly, further research into the provenance of this chair and the chair at Winterthur is needed to fully unravel their early history in Boston.  Courtney Leigh Harris is curatorial research fellow, Decorative Arts and Sculpture Art of Europe, Museum of Fine Arts Boston. 1. Luke Beckerdite, “Carving Practices in Eighteenth-Century Boston,” in Old-Time New England: New England Furniture: Essays in Memory of Benno M. Forman, ed. Brock Jobe (Boston: Society for the Preservation of new England Antiquities, 1987), 123-62. 2. Winterthur Museum accession number 1951.0080. Thanks to Brock W. Jobe, professor emeritus at the Winterthur Museum for pointing out this connection. The specific connection of Sarah Phillips Beck to the Phillips family has not yet been investigated. Winter 124 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com Fig. 3: Raking light detail of “T. Hooper” stamp on underside of seat rail. Photograph courtesy of Christine Storti. Fig. 4 : Raking light detail of “T. Hoo” stamp on corner brace. Photograph courtesy of Christine Storti.