Images(9)

Settee

Date1771-1776

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg

MediumCherry, tulip poplar, and oak; original leather upholstery.

DimensionsOH. 36 1/2; OW. 73; SD. 21 1/2.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1975-23,1

DescriptionAppearance: Double chair-back settee with crest rails joined at center by a common stile; crest rails offset with an unused carving allowance; two board vase shaped splats with three long above two short piercings each; splats seated in molded shoes which are integral parts of rear seat rail; three nearly parallel stiles ending in back curved marlborough feet; three marlborough front legs, those on outer ends with beaded outer corners; box form stretchers (two front, two back, two side, and one middle) mortised into legs; poplar interior seat blocking; oak slip seat frame with original (patched) black leather upholstery; serpentine arms with slightly molded knuckles; arms secured to stiles by means of screw from rear; curved arm supports secured to seat rails by three screws.

Construction: The rear seat rail and shoe are cut from a single board. Notches on the outer surface of the rear leg posts receive the arms, while the arm supports are attached to the seat rails with three screws each.

Materials: Cherry settee frame; tulip poplar corner blocks; oak slip-seat frame.
Label TextIn 1775, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, Virginia's last royal governor, fled Williamsburg as Revolutionary pressures mounted. Dunmore abandoned most of his personal possessions at the Governor's Palace, where they were sold at public auction the following year. This settee, seven matching chairs (accs. 1975-23, 2-8), and a related smoking chair (acc. 1980-184) all have histories of purchase at the sale. According to family tradition, they were acquired by Thomas Lewis of Augusta County and subsequently given as a wedding gift to his sister, Agatha Frogg Lewis, and her husband, John Stuart of Stuart Manor, a house in Greenbriar County (now West Virginia). That Thomas Lewis was actually present at the Dunmore sale is substantiated by the survival of a copy of Shakespeare's works bearing the governor's bookplate that descended with the furniture in the Lewis and Stuart families.

Colonial chair-back settees are exceedingly rare and were probably never produced in significant numbers. Several conclusions can be drawn from physical and documentary evidence, however. Following British custom, American settees were typically sold in pairs; the fact that the medial stretcher on this example was taken from another settee during an early repair demonstrates that at least two settees were included in the Palace suite. It was common for settees to be sold en suite with matching side chairs, a practice reflected by several extant British chairback settees that were imported by wealthy American colonists. Roman numerals on the chairs from the CWF suite reveal that it originally encompassed at least thirteen chairs--and probably more--since side chairs were most often made in multiples of six. Repair evidence suggests additional settees were originally part of the set as well.

The relatively plain design and unrefined execution of the set suggests that it was intended for somewhat utilitarian use at the Palace. So, too, does the choice of durable leather for the seats, which survive intact on the settee and all of the chairs. Given the large size of the suite, the furniture may well have been used in the Palace ballroom where enormous entertainments were held seasonally. As Governor Botetourt noted in 1769, "52 dined with me Yesterday and I expect at least that number to-day."

The set was once attributed to Williamsburg cabinetmaker Peter Scott based on the fact that a few of its structural elements were similar to those on other chairs attributed to Scott. It is now known that the other seating furniture actually was made by Robert Walker of King George County, Virginia, on the Rappahannock River. The Dunmore suite was certainly made in Williamsburg, but cannot presently be firmly attributed to a specific artisan.

The unusual leather tabs securing the leather upholstery on the slip seats further document the attribution of these chairs to Williamsburg. A fragment of a seat frame with evidence of this same corner treatment was discovered during archaeological excavations at the site of the cabinet shop successively occupied by Anthony Hay, Benjamin Bucktrout, and Edmund Dickinson. While the presence of the archeologically recovered seat frame is not conclusive evidence of that technique having been utilized by one or any of the Hay shop masters, when combined with the chairs having been owned by Lord Dunmore, it is suggestive of the technique being done in Williamsburg. The seat frame could have been disposed of by someone in the shop who was repairing a chair made or upholstered by one of the Hay shop masters or another local artisan.
InscribedNone
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceAccording to family tradition, the settee and matching chairs were purchased by Thomas Lewis of Augusta Co., Va., at the 1776 Williamsburg auction of Lord Dunmore's personal property. The furniture was a wedding gift to Lewis's sister, Agatha Frogg Lewis, and John Stuart of Greenbriar Co., Va. (now W. Va). The Stuarts later lived at Stuart Manor near present-day Lewisburg. Both the settee and the matching side chairs were purchased by CWF in 1975 from members of the family still living at the estate.