Description:
London cane-back side chair painted black with an elaborately carved crest rail with center scroll. The scroll-carved stiles and bottom rail were replaced in the nineteenth century. The splate has tall acorn finials over ball-and-ring side posts; carved designs (replacements, see below) around the openwork on the sides of the back splat with a center modern cane panel over a carved back rail; an elaborately carved front stretcher; turned side stretchers and back legs ending in plain square feet; and a modern cane seat. In the late seventeenth century, the English Parliament sought to stimulate the languishing English economy by encouraging craftsmen to produce finished goods aimed at middle-market consumers. London chairmakers mass-produced lightweight, decorative “cane chairs” (so-called for their use of plaited rattan backs and seats) for sale at home and abroad. Cane chairs appear in Massachusetts inventories as early as 1689. Although demand for locally-turned, ash seating furniture remained strong through the early nineteenth century, these flashy yet affordable imported chairs offered a fashionable design alternative that not only delighted the eye but also symbolized local residents’ connections to larger mercantile and cultural centers. The chair, which was purchased from Mrs. Natalie Ashley Stebbins, has a long Deerfield history. When a member of the Stebbins family first placed a set of six, ten or perhaps even twelve cane chairs, including this example, in the best parlor of his Deerfield home, he made a dramatic fashion statement that set a new standard for the neighborhood. Although the set was later divided, this example remained in Deerfield. A nineteenth-century descendant replaced the side and bottom rails of the back with parts carved to evoke the original. These repairs underscore the surprising fragility of the form. They also suggest that the owner sought to preserve the chair not only for its aesthetic appeal, but perhaps also for its association with the family’s, and the town’s, past. This chair is very similar in design to two other London side chairs in the collection - 1424 and 67.163, found in Whately, Massachusetts.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+0914 |
