Side chair, bow-back Windsor

Date1800-1820

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Petersburg (probably)

MediumHickory or ash, tulip poplar, and maple

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

Credit LineBequest of Miss Martha B. D. Spotswood

Object number1981-139

DescriptionBow back Windsor side chair, back made of a continuous strip of wood with incised line outlining front edges; nine bamboo turned spindles in back; shaped saddle seat with incised groove surrounding spindles; four raking bamboo turned legs braced by two side and one medial bamboo turned stretchers; remnants of what appears to be original mustard yellow paint.
Label TextBefore the Revolutionary War, the Virginia gentry imported almost all of their Windsor chairs from Philadelphia, New York, and, to a lesser extent, Britain. By the 1790s, cities like Petersburg were beginning to support their own Windsor chair manufactories, albeit on a smaller scale than in the North. This chair, one of a set of six that descended in the Lemoine and Spotswood families of Petersburg, is typical of Windsor chairs produced there. In both construction and design, Petersburg Windsors continued to be strongly influenced by Philadelphia chairs, which were imported in quantity even after the southern Windsor trade became established. So close are the structural and stylistic similarities that it is sometimes impossible to differentiate between a Petersburg Windsor chair and one from Philadelphia.

Petersburg Windsor chairs first became available when of Robert McKeen opened a shop at Dinwiddie Courthouse, twelve miles southwest of Petersburg, in 1793. Until McKeen moved his shop into Petersburg proper several years later, city residents were encouraged to buy his wares locally at Francis Brown's coachmaking shop on Old Street. Numbers of other Windsor makers established shops in Petersburg over the next twenty years, and the trade comprised a significant part of the local furniture-making community by 1810.

Although the maker of this particular chair is not recorded, it is nearly identical to documented examples produced in the Petersburg "WINDSOR CHAIR MANUFACTORY" of Joel Brown, who normally maintained a stock of four hundred chairs in 1807 (for an example, see MESDA research file 9965). The son of a Chesterfield County wheelwright, Brown may have apprenticed in that trade since his earliest advertisements emphasize his abilities as a maker of coach or riding chairs. He would not have been alone in practicing both trades. Between 1790 and 1820, nearly 40 percent of Petersburg coachmakers also produced, decorated, or repaired Windsor chairs, and many Windsor makers contracted to make parts for riding-chairmakers.
MarkingsThree-lobed brand mark stamped twice on bottom of seat
ProvenanceIn 1880, this set of chairs was purchased by members of the Spotswood family in Petersburg, Va., from the estate auction of John E. Lemoine of that city. The sale included Lemoine's house and lot on Old Street and household furniture "consisting of CARPETS, BEDSTEADS, FEATHER BEDS, MATTRESSES, CHAIRS, TABLES, SIDEBOARD, BOOKS, BOOK CASES, and many useful articles." These six chairs, along with other Spotswood family possessions, were placed on loan to CWF in 1933 and became a gift in 1981.