Description
William and Mary-style easy chair made with maple.
S-curved wings extend forward on either side of the ovolo-top chair back. The horizontal arm rests scroll outward. The front planes of the arm rests curve down and out to meet the tops of the vertical, outwardly-scrolled arm supports. The chair has a scalloped front skirt and flat-arched side skirts. The two front legs are baluster-on-ring-and-block turned with trumpet-shaped terminals. There are two reel-, ball-, and vase-shaped medial stretchers: one between baluster-turned side stretchers, in an h-shape, and another between the stump rear legs.
The exposed wood elements are painted black. A padded cushion accompanies the chair. The upholstery is gold-colored damask silk in a stylized, symmetrical foliate pattern including ears of wheat, swags, and a lattice-like design. The front edges of the winds and each arm are corded. An unbleached linen fabric is used under the cushion, which is upholstered on all sides and corded at the upper and lower edges.
Object use
Seating furniture
Object type
Chair
Place of origin
Boston, Massachusetts; Europe
Basis of origin
Winterthur attributes the chair to Boston and the silk textile to Europe.
Date
1715-1730
Basis of date
Dated by Winterthur staff. According to the Winterthur object record, previously catalogued as 1700-1725. This chair was reupholstered in the 20th century using fabric made between 1860-1940.
Style
William and Mary
Materials
Maple; Silk textile; Upholstery materials; Unidentified textile; Paint
Basis of materials
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library identifies the primary wood used as soft maple based on microanalysis performed sometime around 2006.
Attributes & techniques
Turning; Baluster legs; Painting; Stump legs
Marks, signatures, inscriptions
Chiseled on the inside of left seat rail: [IIII].
Dimensions
Height 51.25 in. (130.2 cm), Width 31.5 in. (80 cm), Depth 32.9 in. (83.5 cm)
Bibliography
Book: Benno M. Forman, American Seating Furniture, 1630-1730: An Interpretive Catalogue (New York: W. W. Norton, a Winterthur Book, 1988), cat. 88, 364-66.
Book: Jay E. Cantor, Winterthur (New York: Abrams, 1997), 163.
Online Resource: Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Collections, http://museumcollection.winterthur.org (accessed May 20, 2015), 1958.0558.
Subject
Armchairs
Current owner
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
Credit
Gift of Henry Francis du Pont
Owner's accession number
1958.0558
Rights
Object owned by the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, https://www.winterthur.org/.
Metadata and images digitized from the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection of the Winterthur Library. For reproduction requests or more information, contact DAPC at reference@winterthur.org.
Source
Decorative Arts Photographic Collection
Date digitized
2019-01-25
Date modified
2019-01-25