A CHIPPENDALE FOUR POSTER BED, PHILADELPHIA, CIRCA 1775 the stop-fluted front posts above 'Marlborough' legs and block feet joined by a footrail, the back with octagonal shaped posts joined by a head rail, the frame with later a floral silk pelmet Provenance: Dawesfield House, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA Lots 92 - 175 form part of the original contents of Dawesfield, Lewis Lane, Ambler, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania - an iconic American farmhouse built by Abraham Dawes and by descent through generations of the female line. It served as the Revolutionary Headquarters of General George Washington from 20th October until 2nd November, 1777. Marlborough or ‘Marlboro’ square legs were popular in eighteenth century American bedsteads. The tapered square section of the Marlborough legs offer themselves as sturdy pedestals to the pillars of the bed. The term was first recorded in the Bristol Journal in 1783, ‘For Sale. A neat Mahogany Marlboro Bedstead’. However, this style of square leg ostensibly takes its name from George Spencer, the 4th Duke of Marlborough, to whom William Ince and John Mayhew dedicated their book The Universal System of Household Furniture (1759-62). A similar fourposter bed from Philadelphia is part of the Winterthur Museum collection.