Description:
Chippendale side chair in mahogany with white pine triangular corner blocks and slip seat frame. According to the history associated with the chair, it was one of a set made for the Saltonstall House in Haverhill, Massachusetts. The trapezoidal slip seat cover is embroidered with a blue, red, and green Irish or flame stitch (Florentine, 4.2 step) in a remote carnation design in wool on linen. The hand-written label attached to the bottom of the chair indicates that the embroidery was started by Anna White (1752-1841) at the age of 14, who married Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall, Nov. 21, 1780. The scrolled crest rail has fluted ears, over a pierced, carved, and scrolled back splat with two volutes. The front cabriole legs end in ball and claw feet (with an eastern Massachusetts tendency of raked side claws - the side claws angling off to the rear), and chamfered rear legs above the block-and-turned compressed stretchers. 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.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1126 |
