The mystery chair

Two or more years ago, I purchased this chair at a local estate sale. I knew the chair had age to it but it was so dark in the house I could not do a thorough examination. As I was carrying the chair to the car, the slip seat (at that time upholstered) fell out, giving me the first clue that this was a late 18^th/early 19^th century chair.

Further examination of the construction of the chair confirmed that it was indeed a “period” chair, but where was it made? That still remains a mystery. The distinguishing features of the chair are its “square” back with vase or urn shaped splat and the stringing and inlay on the back and the front rail and legs. The seat has a serpentine front rail and curved side rails with a slip seat. The front legs are tapered joined by stretchers. The primary wood is mahogany with pine secondary wood.

Back view showing the vase shaped splat

 Sheraton's Drawing Book, Plate 36

So, where to begin? The obvious place seemed to be the design of the splat. I knew that chair backs of this design were very popular in New York chairs of the federal period. The general design is taken from the 1794 edition of Sheraton's Drawing Book, Plate 36, No. 1.  Albert Sack shows two examples (one of poor quality, one “best”) and Charles Montgomery, American Furniture The Federal Period, illustrates three examples from the Winterthur collection. Two of these (plates 58 and 60) have carved backs and one (plate 59) has stringing and “engraved” inlays instead of carving.

New York chair with carved splat, seat upholstered over the rails and spade feet

So, from this initial, cursory investigation, one might draw the conclusion that my chair is from New York. Too early to make that leap, however. The New York chairs are much more sophisticated in both design and execution, making it unlikely my chair was from a major metropolitan area such as New York City or Albany. In addition, the New York examples all have bowed rather than serpentine seat fronts and are upholstered over the rails, rather than having slip seats. The New York examples also all have spade feet rather than plain tapered legs and lack stretchers. According to Montgomery, “stringing is uncommon on New York chairs [and] slip seats are seldom found on New York chairs of the Federal period." Where next?

"Tapered legs braced by stretchers were the norm for New England chairs of the early federal period [and] about equal numbers were left plain or were ornamented with two single strings of light colored wood running through to the floor or were molded" (Montgomery, p. 71). This general description fits my chair but the stringing is not a single line but a combination of light, dark light wood and the stringing does not run through to the floor but stops at a narrow “cuff” about 2 3/4” from the floor.

What origin do the seat shape and method of construction indicate?  According to Montgomery and from the examples in Sack, almost all New England chairs of this period have a stuffed seat upholstered over the rails and most have bowed, rather then serpentine, fronts. So, based on these features and the fact that the only New England example I can find of a square back with a vase splat is a very sophisticated painted chair from Boston attributed to the Seymours (Montgomery, plate 36), a New England origin seems unlikely. 

Boston painted chair

Quite the cliffhanger. Stay tuned for episode 2.