Description:
One of a partial set of four Chippendale, Gothic-back side chairs supported by straight legs and a medial stretcher base. Made for General Thomas Ives of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the chairs are significant for their inscriptions, which record: "1785/made by Mr. Bliss of Springfield, Mass." The identity of "Mr. Bliss" is uncertain. Pelatiah Bliss (1770-1826) of Springfield is well-recorded as a cabinetmaker, but he was only fifteen years old when the chairs were allegedly made. Other family members were also woodworkers, and the chairs may have been made by one of Pelatiah's older brothers, Festus (1762-1810) or Paul (1766-1813). These chairs with pierced "gothic" splats (in reference to the pointed arch at the center of the back) were rare in the Connecticut River Valley. The Gothic taste, which was especially popular in seating furniture made in Philadelphia, was introduced to the Connecticut Valley by Eliphalet Chapin (1741-1807), a cabinetmaker who worked there as a journeyman cabinetmaker before returning home to work with his second cousin Aaron Chapin in East Windsor and Hartford, Conneticut, from 1770 to 1815. Demand for Chapin's urbane, Rococo furniture proved strong throughout the Connecticut Valley, and craftsmen either trained in the Chapins' shop, imitated their work, or copied their products. This set of chairs is nearly identical to another partial set of two chairs in HD's collection (2004.38.1-.2), which was probably made for the Hon. Thomas Dwight (1758-1819) of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+95.044.4 |
