Description: Make-do armchair comprising a London-made William and Mary cane-back chair splat and arms and Queen Anne easy chair frame, the former made around 1700 and combined to create the present chair around 1780 in Essex County, Massachusetts. An important document of generational changes in technique, patronage, and obsolescence, the crest rail of the older chair was probably broken when the chair fell backwards. It was found in the Newbury, Massachusetts, area and when the owner went to have it re-upholstered, the marriage was revealed. Particularly remarkable is that the original cane survives on both the back and the seat, which was then covered with a recycled piece of "Russia" leather. Bruce Hoadley examined the identifiable woods and identified European walnut used in the older part with the front rail of the easy chair possibly maple and one other yet-to-be-identified wood.
Subjects: Leather; Textile fabrics Link to share this object record: https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2015.28 |