Description:
Urn-back side chair made of cherry with mahogany veneer with light wood carrot, or icicle inlay on the front legs, and light wood inlaid cuffs. Its construction features include through tenons with no pins, no wedges in the through tenon, and tack marks visible on which the original webbing was likely affixed to the bottom of the seat. The inside of the front seat rail is inscribed in graphite with a large: "X" and two paper labels are affixed under the seat. One is likely a Paul Koda 1957 card, and the other, a paper jelly with red border, is typed: "Made for John Caldwell by Kneeland & Adams/Restored for:/Mr. & Mrs. John C. Parsons." There is a large crack in the proper right front leg, and a patch on the proper left side of the crest rail. This set of chairs is similar in splat design to the only firmly-documented chairs known to have been made by Samuel Kneeland or Lemuel Adams: a commission to create chairs for what was then the new Connecticut State House, after the dissolusion of their partnership in 1796 (see: The Connecticut Historical Society 1965.27.0a,b). The building and its contents are now in the collection of The Connecticut Historical Society. Since the discovery of the ledger of Lemuel Adams in 2016, which includes the entire shop records for the Kneeland & Adams firm, a research team has been working on firmly-documenting any chairs to the shop. As of 2019, the team has yet to conclusively attribute any other chairs to the firm. But, from the ledger, it is now known that the Kneeland & Adams shop worked closely with other cabinetmakers in the area, so it is possible this set of chairs was made by another firm working in Hartford County in the 1790s. The attractive urn-back splat is known to have been made in Rhode Island, and was likely made in Massachusetts, and other areas of Connecticut in the Federal period.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2018.40.1 |
