Images(5)

Masonic Master's chair

Date1766-1777

Artist/Maker Benjamin Bucktrout (d. 1813)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg

MediumMahogany and black walnut; leather, linen, horsehair, spanish moss, brass, silver leaf, gold leaf

DimensionsOH: 65 1/4"; OW: 31 1/4"; OD: 29 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1983-317

DescriptionAppearance: Masonic Master's chair with carved cabriole front legs and dolphin feet; tapered rear legs canted slightly towards rear, uncarved, terminating in widely splayed feet; shaped rococo carved seat rails with foliate and C scroll elements; acanthus carved arm supports and arms upholstered in original leather with brass nails, terminating at front in carved volutes; back composed of three flat, stop-fluted pillars with Corinthian capitals on outer pillars and a Composite central capital; central pillar supports a carved bust of the "Worshipful Master"; outer pillars support an arched masonry-scored crest surmounted by a keystone faced with a gilt scroll inscribed "Virtute et Silentio" supporting a gilt and painted pillow and adorned atop the outer pillars with gilt sun and silver leafed moon; a horizontal 24" rule extends across the back between the two outer pillars and and open Bible, inscribed across the top "KINGS I" and "CHAP. VII, adorns the central pillar just below the rule and has a gilt compass and mahogany square, inscribed with Euclids fourty-seventh proposition, and a central gilt five pointed star atop its pages; a large level faces the lower portion of the central pillar and extends across the back to the side pillars creating open space between it and the rule that is filled with six Masonic emblems: trowel, two plumb rules, mallet, gavel, and one unidentified tool (replaced); below the level are crossed quills on the proper right and crossed keys on the proper left with pierced carved elements filling the space around them; the chair is upholstered half over the rail in original black leather with a single row of brass nails around the edge and up each front corner.

Construction: The three-piece crest rail, including a central keystone, is lap-joined to the stiles. Additional support comes from a wooden plate (perhaps an early repair) on the reverse of the arch that is both screwed and nailed in place. The upper back rail is tenoned into the stiles, saddle-joined to the back of the central column, and faced with a one-quarter-inch-thick strip carved and stamped to represent a twenty-four-inch gauge. The fluted pilasters are screwed from behind to the stiles; the holes are countersunk and plugged. The plinths and carved capitals are laminated to the pilasters. The fretted rail just above the seat is tenoned and sprig-nailed to the stiles and saddle-joined to the back of the central pilaster. The rail below is similarly tenoned into the stiles.

The side and front seat rails are tenoned into the legs and covered with carved facades that are glued and screwed in place. The uncarved rear seat rail is tenoned into the rear legs. An upholstery rail is screwed onto the interior face of the rear seat rail. The interior seat frame is further secured with diagonal braces set into angled mortises in the rails in the British manner. The arm supports are screwed to the seat frame and round-tenoned into the underside of the arms, which in turn are half-lapped to the rear stiles and secured from behind with countersunk and plugged screws. Nails and probably glue affix the crossed quills and keys to the fretted rail. The horizontal part of the central level is tenoned into the side pilasters and sprig-nailed to central pilaster. The mallet, hammer, and angled plumb rules are tenoned into the pilasters. The left plumb rule is open-mortised into the top corner of the mallet, and the right plumb rule is nailed into an open rabbet on the top of the hammer. Both are sprig-nailed to the central pilaster. Rabbets on the bottom of the mallet and hammer overlap the horizontal element on the central level and are sprig-nailed in place. The Bible is attached to the central pilaster from behind with countersunk and plugged screws. The square and compasses are sprig-nailed to the Bible, while the star, now replaced, originally was glued in place. The trowel on the upper left part of the chair back is tenoned into the pilaster and underside of the upper back rail. The trowel's blade is metal-riveted to the hosel on the handle. An unidentified tool on the upper right of the chair back is a later addition set into new mortises. The carved sun and moon are nailed and probably glued to the arch. A round tenon holds the carved bust to the top of the central pilaster. The cushion at the top of the chair is held to the scroll-carved keystone with a countersunk screw.

The seat webbing is nailed to the top of the seat rails, except at the rear, where it is nailed to the interior rail. A coarse woven fabric rests on top of the webbing and is nailed to the top of the rails. Four or five inches of extra material lap over the front and side rails. This extra textile is folded back over two-inch-thick horsehair rolls that are loosely stitched to the seat bottom and form the seat edges. The rolls, which taper toward the upholstery peaks, represent a less expensive alternative to a tightly stitched and nailed "French edge." The hair stuffing that fills the resulting cavity is covered with coarse linen, which in turn is nailed onto the upper side face of the seat rails. A layer of Spanish moss rests atop this layer. The leather show cloth is nailed to the lower face of the front and side seat rails and to the upper rear face of the back seat rail. Ornamental brass nails secure the lower exposed edges of the leather cover.

Materials: All components of mahogany except for black walnut side seat rails, front seat rail, and interior rear rail.
Label TextThis elaborate ceremonial armchair is one of America's few surviving examples of pre-Revolutionary Masonic seating furniture. It is also the only presently known piece of Williamsburg furniture signed by its maker. Built at the end of the colonial period by cabinetmaker Benjamin Bucktrout (d. 1813), himself a Freemason, the chair has survived in unusually good condition, retaining its original foundation upholstery, leather seat cover, and brass nail trim. Also intact are much of the first-period gilding, some of the painted decoration, and most of the original finish, now covered by later clear layers. Curious in appearance, at least to modern viewers, this commanding object was a powerful symbol in the eighteenth century, and much of the information it conveyed then can still be deciphered today.

At its most basic level, the chair exhibits a distinctive combination of rocaille ornament and Masonic imagery that sharply diverges from conventional eighteenth-century designs for ceremonial seating. The ornately carved base is from a design for a household "French Chair" in the 1762 edition of Chippendale's Director, while the back assembly is composed entirely of message-laden Masonic emblems arranged around three stop-fluted pilasters, a central pilaster in the Composite order and a pair of flanking Corinthian pilasters. Whether this arrangement was aesthetically motivated or has an exact symbolic meaning is unclear.

Each of the elements in the back assembly carried a particular meaning for eighteenth-century Freemasons and therefore was less an ornament than a missive to be read by those in the know. For instance, astride the central column are symbols for the "Three Great Lights" of Freemasonry: the volume of sacred law (the Bible), the square, and the compass. Many of the remaining elements specifically represent the three divisions of eighteenth-century British Freemasonry known as the Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master levels. One of the tools connected with the first degree, or Apprentice level, is the hinged twenty-four-inch gauge. Placed just above the Bible, it alludes to the division of the Freemason's day into three equal periods for work, study or devotion, and sleep. Tools that measure human morality against Masonic and Christian standards connote the second, or Fellowcraft, degree. For instance, the level is equated with justice while the plumb rule stands for mercy. Among third-degree, or Master, symbols are the compass, a reminder of the moral, philosophical, and artistic boundaries that shaped the Mason's world, and the trowel, which embodies spreading a mortar that bonds Masons in brotherly love. Also associated with the third degree is the incised illustration of the forty-seventh problem of Euclid, which teaches members to love the arts and sciences. In a similar vein, the Bible is open to Kings I, Chapter vii, which describes the building of Solomon's temple and serves as a main metaphorical construct for the Masonic system of beliefs.

Visual references allude to other aspects of Freemasonry. The crossed quills on the lower left of the chair back denote the office of lodge secretary, while the crossed keys on the right mark the office of treasurer. The rusticated arch that forms the crest rail of the Bucktrout chair is an overt metaphorical allusion to the stones and mortar used by practicing stonemasons whose craft is the ideological foundation of Freemasonry. It also symbolizes the arch of heaven under which all Masonic activity takes place. The keystone at the center of the arch, which reminds Freemasons of the strength and permanence of their fraternal ideals, bears a gilt scroll inscribed "Virtute et Silentio," a reminder that virtue and silence elevate the Masonic brother. The prominence of the arch itself may point to ties with Royal Arch Freemasonry. The Royal Arch degree developed during the last half of the eighteenth century as a fourth degree to which practicing Masons could aspire. While not formally codified until the 1790s, the main tenets of the Royal Arch degree were actively practiced in Virginia well before that time, as evidenced by the 1753 conferral of a Royal Arch degree in Fredericksburg by the Grand Lodge of Scotland and by the similar Royal Arch designation in 1775 of the Cabin Point Lodge in Surry County.

Perhaps the most unusual element on the Bucktrout chair is the carved bust that surmounts the central column. Dressed in an artisan's turban and smock, the figure was clearly copied from a commercially made mid-eighteenth-century ceramic bust of the famed English poet, philosopher, and diplomat Matthew Prior (1664-1721) (CWF acc. 1992-1). Ceramic busts of noteworthy literary and historical figures were widely popular during the eighteenth century, and many Americans, including George Washington, owned these so-called "China images." The use of Prior's image in this location is puzzling, however, since he was not a Mason, wrote little if anything about Freemasonry, and died shortly after the creation of the Grand Lodge of England. Prior's presence may represent a play on words since the term prior was sometimes used to denote the elected head of a guild, who may have been considered akin to the master of a lodge. Or the bust may represent one of the countless generic images of enlightened eighteenth-century artisans and thinkers, much like the anonymous "Busto's" illustrated in contemporary design books. In either case, the combination of a human figure framed by a sun and moon represents another fundamental Masonic trilogy, one that Freemasonry borrowed from classical mythology. This trilogy is referred to in Masonic ritual as the "Three Lesser Lights," reflecting the idea that just as the sun rules the day and the moon rules the night, so, too, does the master rule and govern the lodge.

Aside from the coarse replacement of the tool in the upper right corner of the back, the only major loss to this chair occurred long ago at the very top of the crest rail. A carved cushion originally painted red and highlighted with a carved and gilt cord survives in that location. Textile or wooden tassels, now missing, were once attached to the four corners of the cushion by thin wires. The ritual use of cushions in Masonic iconography is known, but its presence here may refer to the king of England, the ultimate ruler of Virginia and the titular leader of all Freemasons. Eighteenth-century portraits of British monarchs often feature similarly tasseled and corded cushions supporting royal crowns (see CWF acc. 1936-376). A circular incised line and round mortise on the top of the carved cushion on the chair reinforce the idea that a crown, a Prince of Wales plume, or another royal insignia originally was placed there. Records confirm that the royal coat of arms on the Speaker's Chair (acc. 1933-504) in Williamsburg's House of Burgesses was removed and destroyed at the time of the Revolution; a similar fate may have befallen the emblem that once sat atop the Bucktrout chair.

Despite the wealth of information that can be gleaned from the chair's physical elements, its earliest history and the identity of the Masonic lodge for which it was made have been lost. The first reference to the chair dates from July 6, 1778, when the minutes of Unanimity Lodge 7 in Edenton, North Carolina, record that "Br. [George] Russel presented the Lodge with an Elegant Masters Chair." Oral tradition within the lodge holds that Russell was a sea captain entrusted with the chair's safety during the Revolution, but nothing is known of how or where he acquired this extraordinary object. Lodge records do reveal that after several failed attempts to join the group, Russell was finally admitted just one month before he donated the chair. By the next year, he had been named master of the lodge, suggesting that Russell used the chair to secure his induction.

Clues to the identity of the lodge for which the chair was made survive elsewhere in the minutes of Unanimity Lodge. In 1811, the leaders of Norfolk Lodge 1 wrote to their North Carolina brethren asking them to return the chair, noting that "some of the old members of the Lodge say, that the chair now in Unanimity Lodge was brought [t]here during the Revolutionary War, to save it from capture or destruction by the enemy." Unsuccessful in their first attempt, the Norfolk lodge wrote again in 1815, but no response appears in the records of Unanimity Lodge. The Edenton lodge received a less convincing claim for the chair from Alexandria Lodge 22 in 1876. No response was recorded, possibly because the Alexandria lodge had not been chartered until five years after the chair came to Edenton.

A series of articles about the chair was published in the Raleigh Observer about 1876. While acknowledging the earlier claims made by Norfolk Lodge 1, the author concluded that the chair must have been used in Williamsburg Lodge 6 because of the Bucktrout connection. This hypothesis is questionable because it is known that another Masters' chair (CWF acc. 1991-5), has been owned by Lodge 6 since the eighteenth century. The accounts for Lodge 6 do include several significant payments to Bucktrout during the 1760s and 1770s, probably in connection with supplying food, drink, and other provisions, among Bucktrout's official Masonic duties. The chair may have been created for the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, which first convened in 1777 at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg. The onset of the Revolution soon thereafter may explain why such a valuable object was removed for safekeeping; again, this hypothesis cannot be confirmed or disproved.

One additional piece of evidence about the chair's history comes from an oral tradition in Williamsburg Lodge 6 that their master's chair was one of three commissioned as gifts by Governor Botetourt. This tale is suspiciously reminiscent of an oral tradition at Unanimity Lodge that claims the Bucktrout chair is one of three commissioned by Lord Baltimore. There are no known ties between Maryland's Lord Baltimore and the Masonic lodges of Virginia, however. Instead, it is likely that over time the tradition at Unanimity Lodge confused the familiar name of Lord Baltimore with the more obscure Lord Botetourt. That two distant lodges recounted such similar stories lends further credence to the legend of Botetourt's role in commissioning three Masonic chairs. So, too, does the fact that three colonial master's chairs from Virginia are extant: the Bucktrout chair, the one owned by Williamsburg's Lodge 6, and the chair made for Fredericksburg's Lodge 4. In the Botetourt scenario, Norfolk Lodge 1 again becomes the most likely original owner of the Bucktrout chair since it was Virginia's oldest lodge and was located in the colony's largest city, a seaport less than seventy miles from Edenton.

More complete information about the career of cabinetmaker Bucktrout survives. A native of England, Bucktrout first appeared in Williamsburg records in 1765 when he paid sundry accounts in the name of cabinetmaker Anthony Hay, probably his employer at the time. By July 1766, Bucktrout left Hay's shop and opened a business on Duke of Gloucester Street. Like other immigrant artisans, he quickly advised potential customers of his British training, describing himself as a "CABINET MAKER, from LONDON, on the main street near the Capitol in Williamsburg, makes all sorts of cabinetwork, either plain or ornamental, in the neatest and newest fashions." Details of Bucktrout's apprenticeship are unknown, but his confident rendering of the carved foliage and the well-modeled dolphins on the front of the Master's chair suggest that he received a high level of training in England.

Hay closed his cabinetmaking business by early 1767 and apparently rented his Nicholson Street shop to Bucktrout, who immediately advertised a wide range of cabinetmaking, carpentry, and woodworking services. "MR. ANTHONY HAY having lately removed to the RAWLEIGH tavern, the subscriber has taken his shop, where the business will be carried on in all its branches. He hopes that those Gentlemen who were Mr. Hay's customers will favour him with their orders, which shall be executed in the best and most expeditious manner. He likewise makes all sorts of Chinese and Gothick PALING for gardens and summer houses. N.B. SPINET and HARPSICHORDS made and repaired."

Bucktrout's production and repair of keyboard instruments represents a significant digression among Virginia furniture makers, one that may have been more common than is presently recognized. Perhaps it was the artisan's knowledge of musical instruments, in addition to his role as steward, that lead the members of Lodge 6 to assign Bucktrout the task of circulating "a subscription among the Brotherhood for the purpose of Collecting a Sum of Money to be laid out in an Organ for the use of this Lodge." Bucktrout left the Nicholson Street shop shortly after Hay's death in December 1770 and moved to a site on Francis Street where he advertised again in 1775.

As did most cabinetmakers, Bucktrout also provided a full range of funerary services. In 1770, he billed the estate of Governor Botetourt for "the Hearse and fiting up to carrey his Lordship's Corps in [£]6-0-0." He also undertook all manner of upholstery work and sold a full array of upholstery materials including wallpaper. Bucktrout began to sell other retail goods by the mid-1770s, even advertising that he could repair umbrellas. As a consequence of these new business interests and his appointment to several public offices, including purveyor of public hospitals for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Bucktrout probably began to reduce his cabinetmaking activities. In 1779, he publicly announced his intention to leave the state, offering for sale his house and lots, "a chest of cabinet makers and house joiners tools," and "a quantity of very fine broad one, two, and three inch mahogany plank, which has been cut this five years." Documentary evidence suggests that Bucktrout remained in Williamsburg until his death in 1813, by which time his son, Benjamin E. Bucktrout, was working locally as a carpenter.

Scholars will undoubtedly uncover more information about Bucktrout, and they may be able to identify the lodge that originally owned this remarkable chair. Even without more information, however, the Masonic Master's chair unquestionably represents a high-water mark in the history of Virginia furniture making. Together with other Williamsburg-made ceremonial chairs, the Bucktrout chair also reminds us of the highly structured social and political character of colonial eastern Virginia.

Inscribed"VIRTUTE ET SILENTIO" is painted on the gilt scroll at the top of the rusticated arch. The open Bible is inscribed with the heading "Kings I, chapter vii."
Markings"Beniman [sic] Bucktrout" is stamped on the reverse of the central capital.
ProvenanceThe chair was brought to Unanimity Lodge 7 in Edenton, N. C., in 1778 by George Russell from an unidentified lodge. The chair remained in Edenton until 1983, when it was acquired by CWF.