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. The seat is joined to the back with through tenons, and held in place with pins. The joint at the back of the shield, or urn, is dovetailed. Inscribed in ink behind front seat rail: "Made for John Caldwell/by Kneeland and Adams/Restored by Paul Koda Cabinetmaker." There is a fragment of a paper label inside the back seat rail, and other nails and paper scraps visible under the upholstery. 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+2018.40.2 |
