Description:
Chippendale side chair in mahogany with maple rails and white pine triangular corner blocks. The crest rail has a carved shell in the center and fluted ears; over a pierced, carved, and scrolled baluster or "owl eye" splat with two volutes. This style of back splat was the most popular type used on New England Chippendale chairs. The trapezoidal seat is upholstered over the seat rails with gold wool damask. The front cabriole legs have acanthus leaf carving on the knees and end in ball feet with raked back side claws (with an eastern Massachusetts tendency of raked side claws - the side claws angling off to the rear); and the rear legs are chamfered below the turned front and side compressed stretchers and rectangluar back stretcher. The quality of carving have lead some to attribute this chair to Benjamin Frothingham of Charlestown, Massachusetts; however, this is impossible to document at this time. The corner blocks are both glued and nailed to the seat rails, a technique characteristic of eastern Massachusetts chairs that is one of the easiest and least-expensive/lasting methods of chair frame construction.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Mahogany Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+53.084 |
