Side chair, one of pair

Dateca. 1770

OriginAmerica, New Hampshire, Portsmouth

MediumBlack walnut, linen, tacks, hair, leather, brass

DimensionsOH: 36 ½”; SH: 17 ½” OW: 21 ½”; SW: 21½” OD: 20"; SD: 17"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1995-12,1

DescriptionAppearance: Splat-back yoke-crested side chair with pointed and flared ears; thin, tapering splat with long, vertical piercings arched top and bottom and interrupted at the center; tall, thin shoe with shallow quarter round molding; rectilinear box stretchers with bead on outer corners; front legs with bead on outer corners; squared rear stiles, chamfered on interior edge below seat and on reverse above seat.

Construction: Side chair has pegged mortise and tenon joinery on side and rear stretchers; shoe nailed to rear rail; splat tenoned into crest and shoe; stiles tenoned into crest.

Upholstery: Chair retains its original low-profile over-the-rail upholstery of black leather with brass nails; brass rails applied around the base of the side and front seat rails, up the front corners and up the side seat rails at the stiles. The original foundation includes webbing (now missing), bottom linen, and leather. No top linen was used.

Materials: Black walnut, foundation linen, tacks, hair stuffing, leather, brass nails

Label TextA customer could choose a variety of options, including the design of the splat, when purchasing chairs. Pierced splats were more labor intensive and therefore more expensive than solid examples.

This unadorned side chair demonstrates the appreciation of Portsmouth, New Hampshire's inhabitants for the neat and plain style. The city's merchants had close ties with England, where that style was popular, and a number are known to have imported British furniture for their homes. For example, merchant Nathaniel Barrell returned from three years in England with a set of six chairs covered in crimson damask. Needing a larger set in Portsmouth, he had a local craftsman copy the fashionable London examples.

This side chair retains its original leather upholstery with decorative brass nails.

ProvenanceEx. Coll: Charles Navis, Richmond, Virginia; Mr. and Mrs. Daniels of Gooseneck Antiques, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Frank Horton, MESDA, 1963; Tom Gray, 1983. Information from Frank Horton, MESDA. No other history is known about these chairs and how they got to the South. Purchased by source for CWF at Christie's Sale of Americana January 28, 1995, from the Collection of Eddie Nicholson.

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