Description:
London cane-back side chair with a carved fleur-de-lis in the center of the scrolled crest rail; mushroom-like finials over heavily turned stiles; carved floral designs around openwork on the sides of the back splat with a center cane panel over a center carved flower on the back rail; groves around the top of the seat rails; heavily turned front legs ending in scrolled feet; a matching carved fleur-de-lis in the center of the front stretcher; heavily turned side stretchers and back legs ending in plain square feet; and a 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. This chair is very similar in design to two other London side chairs in the HD collection - 0914 owned by the Stebbins family of Deerfield, 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+1424 |
