Description:
Easy chair or wing chair with a cherry frame, which purportedly belonged Colonel Thomas Wells Dickinson (1751-1835) of Deerfield. Dickinson, who was an commissary officer in the Revolutionary War and owned Lot 1 (just north of the Ashley House), which burned in 1843 after his estate was distributed. These were often the most comfortable chairs in the house, often reserved for invalids, pregnant women, or the elderly. Since the wings captured heat from the fireplace, they were commonly used in bedrooms of the well-to-do. The first American easy chairs appeared during the William and Mary period (1690-1720); the Queen Anne style (1720-1755) was replaced by the Chippendale period (1755-1790), the heyday of American easy chairs.

Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Linen

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+86.004

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.