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 chair was taken apart at some point and re-set. There is a large patch on the proper left side of the splat, a crack in the crest rail, a support added to the back of the urn, a patched strip on the top of the back rail, possible veneer addition to the back rail, the proper left rear leg has been re-attached with screws and wood pegs, and the front seat rail has a maple patch. "VIII" has been carved into the bottom of the rear seat rail. In graphite on a glue block: "A F Carr 1913 [or 1973?]/Art Up Co Hartford CT" and a typed label on the inside of the rear seat rail: "Made for John Caldwell by Kneeland & Adams./Restored for Mr. & Mrs. John C. Parsons/1957 Paul Koda Cabinet maker 1116." 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+2018.40.4 |
