Armchair, splat back

Date1760-1785

MediumMahogany, tulip poplar, and yellow pine.

DimensionsOH: 39 1/2"; SeatH: 17 1/4"; OW: 27 1/2"; SeatD: 18 1/2"

Credit LineGift of Gertrude H. and Roger W. Peck in memory of John C. Toland

Object number1967-319

DescriptionAppearance: Serpentine crest rail with small rounded ears; pierced and carved splat; molded shoe; boldly scrolled arms terminating in carved knuckles; serpentine arm supports; trapezoidal slip-seat; straight front and side skirts; cabriole front legs with claw-and-ball feet; rear legs octagonal in section.

Construction: This chair, similar aesthetically to Philadelphia examples, mirrors eastern Pennsylvania structural techniques in the use of vertical quarter-round corner blocks at the rear of the seat frame and laminated blocks of the same shape at the front. It differs from the Philadelphia models in the use of side rails with tenons that do not go through the rear legs. A small concave molding runs around the outer edge of the stiles and crest rail. The wooden strips that originally supported a chamber pot frame are wrought-nailed to the insides of the seat rails.

Materials: Mahogany crest rail, splat, shoe, stiles, seat rails, and legs; yellow pine interior rear rail and slip-seat frame; laminated tulip poplar and yellow pine corner blocks.
Label TextLike most Baltimore furniture of the period between 1765 and 1790, this armchair exhibits a strong resemblance to contemporary work from Philadelphia. The serpentine arms and their supports, voluted and molded arm terminals with carved beads, heavily chamfered rear legs, and relatively deep seat rails on the Maryland chair are remarkably like those on chairs made in and near Philadelphia. The dominance of the Delaware valley style in Baltimore shops of this period is easily explained. Baltimore was a new and small town in 1770, while Philadelphia was well established and much larger. Baltimore was less than one hundred miles from Philadelphia, and its two most prominent early cabinetmakers, Gerard Hopkins (w. 1767-1800) and Robert Moore (w. 1770-1784), had both trained and/or worked in Philadelphia prior to their arrival in Maryland.

Despite these strong influences, there are differences between Philadelphia and Baltimore furniture. This chair does not have the through-tenoned side rails found on most Delaware valley chairs. The same combination of Philadelphia form and more standard British construction is encountered on many other early Baltimore chairs, including a set of seven side chairs and a matching armchair that may be from the same shop (CWF accs. 1953-567, 1-6), originally owned by Mordecai Gist of Baltimore County.
InscribedEarly twentieth-century gummed label inside rear seat rail inscribed in the hand of John C. Toland: "Hall Arm Chair/ Ball & Claw - Va."
MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceThe chair was a part of the American furniture collection formed by John C. Toland of Baltimore early in the twentieth century. It was bequeathed to his niece, one of the donors.