Child's rocking chair

Date1840-1860

MediumTulip poplar, maple, white pine, hickory, iron, paint, gilt

DimensionsOH: 22 5/8"; OW: 15 1/2"; OD:17 5/8"

Credit LineGift of Anonymous Donors

Object number1981.2000.6

DescriptionMiniature rocking chair with shaped crest with sawn ogee-arches on lower edge with four tapered and turned spindles below set into rectangular stay rail. Crest is pinned to turned back posts which are socketed into the scrolled plank seat. Serpentine arms with scrolled terminals supported by ball-turned supports. Turned front legs separated by a turned medial stretcher--both legs and stretcher have ring turnings: rear legs, back stretcher, and side stretchers have no turned decoration. Rockers hailed into dadoes cut into bottoms of legs. All over red paint with gilt, black, and white painted highlights.
Label TextGothic arches were used in America to ornament a variety of everyday objects, including glassware, silver, wallpaper, bookbindings, and furniture during the thirty years preceding the Civil War. Red paint and gilt decoration show the chairmaker's knowledge of fancy furniture, and ogee arches on the bottom of the crest rail show the maker's awareness of Gothic taste.