John Penn sent the Library Company an air pump in 1738, and this case was built to house it. It is the earliest surviving piece of American architectural furniture in the Palladian style., Ordered by Benjamin Franklin and Hugh Roberts about May 15, 1738 to house the air pump given by John Penn. Delivered in 1739 to the home of William Parsons., Exhibited in: Library Company's exhibition, Quarter of a Millennium (1981).
The piece is signed in the weaving: "S. Chevre 1861" and "Isaac Dreyfus Sons Basle." It consists of a portrait of Lincoln in an oval frame of flowers. At the top of the Oval is a shield with an eagle bearing a banner in its beak that says Union For Ever.
