Description:
One of a pair of Queen Anne side chairs in maple and paint with ash splint seats, first popular in New England urban centers in the 1730s. Acquired from a Deerfield family, these chairs probably descended in the Williams family of Deerfield. These chairs have spine-conforming rear splats, or banisters - a feature that would have significantly added to their expense. The maker offset this cost by using one marking gauge to lay out the turnings on the front and side stretchers, by turning the feet rather than carving brush feet; and by embellishing both with a coat of brown paint (visible under a nineteenth-century coat of black paint with gold "coach" striping on one of the pair) to simulate more expensive walnut or mahogany. The late date of these chairs, suggested by the attenuated, undifferentiated turnings on the leg posts and stretchers, indicated that Connecticut River Valley consumers continued to purchase furniture in styles that had long faded from popularity elsewhere.
Label Text:
Persis Hoyt Sheldon's (1747-1829) will, dated September 12, 1828, referred to: "six chairs with perpendicular slat backs."
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2001.42.2 |
