Images(5)

D2014-CMD. Chairs 1930-215, R1985-11, 2012-26

Governor's Chair

Dateca. 1750

OriginEngland, London (probably)

MediumMahogany arms, arm supports, legs, and knee blocks; beech stiles, back rails, and seat rails

DimensionsOH. 49in.; OW. 21 1/2in.; SD. 24 1/2in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1930-215

DescriptionAppearance: Ceremonial armchair; fully upholstered back with arched crest rail; square seat upholstered over the rails; upholstered serpentine arms with carved lion-head terminals; acanthus-carved serpentine arm supports; four cabriole legs with acanthus-carved knees and hairy paw feet.

Construction: Traditional pinned mortise-and-tenon joinery is used on the legs and seat frame, and the knee blocks are glued and nailed from below. The arm supports, which overlap the rails and are screwed in place, are tenoned into the arms, which in turn are tenoned into the stiles. The seat frame is secured with diagonal corner braces.
Label TextThe proportions of this chair, though odd by modern standards, are typical of ceremonial seating intended for the highest government officials in the mid-eighteenth century. Chairs of similar scale include thrones produced in London for the British crown and the South Carolina royal governor's chair made in Charleston in 1758 (MESDA acc. 8817). All these chairs have uncommonly high seats and were originally accompanied by matching footstools. The great seat height (about twenty-six inches instead of seventeen) symbolized the elevated importance of the sitter; the stool kept his or her feet from dangling in midair.

The CWF chair was probably made in the 1750s for the royal governor of Virginia to use at the Capitol in Williamsburg. Although it can only be documented to the Richmond Capitol in 1788, the chair's form and long association with the Speaker's chair (CWF accession 1933-504) leave little doubt about its connection with Virginia's colonial government. Exactly where the chair was used in the colonial Capitol is unclear, but the governor's council chamber is a credible location. Like the Speaker's chair, the so-called Governor's chair was depicted in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper in 1866, where it was described as the "Chair of the Speaker of the Senate," the body that succeeded the royal governor's Council after independence was declared in 1775.

The chair was long attributed to Williamsburg based on the presence of similar design elements (including C-scrolls, diamonds, foliage, and lions' heads) on three other pieces of Williamsburg-made furniture: two Masonic chairs (CWF accessions 1991-5 and 1983-317) and a card table (accession 1932-12). Yet the other three objects were clearly executed by different hands. Indeed, no other objects carved by the artisan who made the chair have been discovered in Virginia. Direct correspondence between the structural details of this chair and those on other Williamsburg-made furniture also is unknown. It is probable that the Governor's chair was imported from Britain, as were portraits of the royal family, iron warming machines, coats of arms, and other symbolic items known to have been ordered for the Capitol and the Governor's Palace. In the latter case, the chair could still have inspired the ornament on the Masonic chairs and the card table.

The chair is shown with a reproduction footstool (accession R1985-11).
InscribedNone.
MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceFollowing the chair's presumed use at the Capitol in Williamsburg, it saw service at the new state Capitol in Richmond through much of the nineteenth century, first in the senate chamber and later for other purposes. Eventually consigned to an attic space, it was given to "Mr. Dillard," a custodian at the Capitol, in the early twentieth century. His son sold the chair to Hugh Procter Gresham, a Richmond antiques dealer, who then sold it to J. F. Biggs, another dealer. In 1928, Biggs sold the chair to the Reverend W. A. R. Goodwin for use at CWF.
Stephen Slipek (804-353-2624) of Richmond phoned 8/29/05 and provided the following information about the Ceremonial Armchair: Mr. McKie Dillard, his great-great-uncle, was the doorkeeper for the Senate at the Capitol in Richmond after the Civil War. His father, Richmond Francis Dillard, had been a senator from Sussex County during the War. During his tenure with the Senate, McKie Dillard often took naps in the Speaker's Chair (it possible was not in a central location during that period). When he retired/left his position at the Senate, the chair was given to him as a gift. Mr. Slipek's uncle recalls using a matching footstool to climb into the chair as a child. No photographs of the chair or footstool remain in the family.

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