Images(3)

Side Chair

Date1725-1750

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia or Southeast

MediumMaple and rush

DimensionsOH: 43 1/4"; OW: 20 1/4"; OD: 17 1/4" ; SD: 14 1/2"

Credit LineGift of Dorothea McSorley

Object number2017-12

DescriptionLadder back side chair; straight rounded stiles topped with inverted turnip shaped finials; five graduated arched, shaped slats tenoned into stiles; top slat tenon pegged; turned rounded front legs with squat baluster element below seat rail, terminate in turnip shaped ball feet; bulbous front stretcher with baluster and ring turnings at center; double rounded side stretchers; single rounded rear stretcher; trapezoidal rush seat; chair frame satined red, possibly original finish and rush seat.
Label TextPhiladelphia chair maker Solomon Fussell recorded selling "6 five-slat Chairs turned fronts" of the "best" kind in 1745. Fussell's chairs were probably quite similar to this Delaware Valley side chair with five arched slats and a bulbous turned stretcher between the front legs. These relatively inexpensive ladder back chairs were extremely popular among Delaware Valley customers of the mid-18th century.
ProvenanceDescended in donor's family. Donor lived outside Philadelphia (Main Line) but her family appears to have been from northern Delaware.