Armchair
Details
Description
Armchair with caned back and seat; scroll-arched, pierced and carved crest and turned legs with Spanish feet. Front stretcher turned with ball-and-disc design; turned medial, side and rear stretchers.
Object use
Seating furnitureObject type
ChairPlace of origin
Boston, MassachusettsBasis of origin
Attribution by Forman.Date
1720-1730Basis of date
Winterthur Museum registration records.Style
William and MaryMaterials
Maple; CaneAttributes & techniques
Turning; Spanish feet; Moldings; CarvingDimensions
Height 49.83 in. (126.56 cm), Width 24.25 in. (61.60 cm), Depth 21 in. (53.34 cm)History of ownership
According to a document signed by Lucy Cushing Richardson, Boston, 9/8/1929, this chair, along with two others in the collection, "have always remained within the exclusive care and possession of the immediate family of John Hancock and his wife Dorothy Quincy Hancock." She says "the 'Spanish Toe' arm chair with the carved top is the original and identical chair in which John Hancock was inaugurated Governor of Massachusetts. This chair has been handed down from generation to generation with this history and legend and tradition as part of the heritage. This chair was my mother's prized possession and was always with her when she went to Philadelphia." Lucy Cushing Richardson, wife of Judge James Bailey Richardson. She said "I am a descendant of Dorothy Quincy Hancock whose sister Mary Quincy was my great-grandmother by virtue of her marriage to Jacob Sheafe."According to BF, 4/1971, this chair is probably Boston and related to Eades family side chair illustrated in Randall, American Furniture, and an example marked JE in American Antiquarian Society.
