Description:
Wing chair or easy chair with a maple frame, which was made for the Adams family of Dedham, Massachusetts, and owned by Arthur Camp in the 1940s. Displaying features of the William and Mary style (1690-1720) with its arched crest, bulbous medial stretcher, and Spanish feet, this chair is a rare survival of the earliest form of easy chair made in America. Only seven others are currently known, all in public collections such as Bayou Bend, Winterthur, Colonial Williamsburg, and the Chipstone Foundation. These were often the most comfortable chairs in the house, often reserved for invalids, pregnant women, or the elderly. Since the wings captured the heat radiating from fireplaces, they were commonly used bed chambers of the well-to-do. This easy chair has an arched outscrolling crest, over a canted back flanked by shaped wings; outscrolling arms ending in C-scrolled arm supports; trapezoidal seat with cushion; double-ogee shaped skirt; ball-and-ring turned medial stretcher and complementary turned side and back stretchers; and two front cabriole legs ending in Spanish feet (partially restored). The position of the stretcher indicates that the chair was probably a little higher originally.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Brass Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+55.036 |
