Side Chair

Dateca. 1750

MediumWalnut

DimensionsOH: 41"; OW: 21"; OD: 17 1/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1930-158

DescriptionAppearance: Side chair, double-arched cresting with carved shell in center with scroll beneath. Rounded stiles; solid vasiform splat. Horseshoe shaped seat; rounded front corners; front legs cabriole with plain, rounded, uncarved knees; end in pad feet. Rear legs square in section, chamfered between stretchers and seat rails; medial and rear stretchers of rolling pin and taper pattern; side stretchers block, taper, and ring turned.

Construction: Walnut frame with maple slip seat. Seat rails are tenoned and pinned to the stiles and legs. All stretchers are turned. The side stretchers are square tenoned into the front legs and tenoned and pinned into the stiles. The medial stretcher is round tenoned into the side stretchers and the rear stretcher is round tenoned into the stiles. The crest rail, with central integral carved shell, is mortised to receive the tenons of the stiles and splat. The splat shoe is mortised for the splat and nailed to the rear seat rail. The cabriole front legs terminate in pad feet. The knee blocks are nailed to the legs and seat rails.
Label TextThis late baroque style side chair represents the better quality of seating furniture that was being produced in Newport toward the middle of the eighteenth century. While its smoothly curved lines, its cabriole legs on pad feet, and its block-and-turned stretchers are reminiscent of late baroque chairs from a variety of New England cities, Newport's distinctive regional style is evident in the hooked-beak "birds" seen in silhouette between the stiles and splat and the carved shell on the crest rail.
Markings"VI" cut into front seat rail; "V" cut into slip seat frame.