Side chair

DateCa. 1770

Possibly by James Allan (1716 - 1789)

MediumMahogany

DimensionsOH: 38 1/2"; OH seat: 17"; OW: 21 3/8"; OD: 16 3/4"

Credit LineGift of Mrs. A. D. Williams.

Object number1938-200

DescriptionSide chair with serpentine crest rail with nearly parallel stiles, all with scratch beaded outer edge; shoe and splat replaced, trapezoidal seat; seat rails molded on upper edges; marlborough front legs; H-plan and rear stretchers (medial stretcher missing)
Markings"XIII" chiseled into (replaced) shoe rail; "III" chiseled into rabbet of front seat rail.
ProvenanceInherited by donor from her father, G. G. Coons, of Culpeper County, Virginia. Donor stated that her father had purchased this chair, along with G1938-199, from members of the Spotswood family. These two chairs are almost certainly those mentioned in a letter from Alexander Dandridge Spotswood to Mr. G. G. Coons in 1892 (see file for transcript). Coons was acting as an agent for the Mckenney family, who were, in turn, buying an antique tall clock from the Spotswood home, Orange Grove, in Culpeper. That clock (G1987-547) and the Spotswood-Coons letter of 1892 were bequeathed to CWF in 1987 by descendants of the McKenneys. The Spotswood-Coons letter and a list of owners supplied by Mr. Spotswood in 1893 strongly suggest that the clock and both chairs were used in the Culpeper area from at least 1836.