Images(2)

Windsor armchair

Date1790-1820

OriginAmerica, South Carolina, York County

MediumHickory and tulip poplar

DimensionsOH: 39"; OW: 23 1/4"; OD: 18"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1996-225

DescriptionWindsor sack-back armchair with eleven rounded spindles that continue to crest rail and five short rounded spindles and turned arm support on each side; rounded crest rail; arm rail rectangular in cross section with double scribed lines on inside face, ends in rounded arm terminal; deep square seat with rounded corners, slight shaping and inscribed line inside spindles; bold bamboo turned legs and front, rear, and side stretchers. Microscopic examination of the surface revealed that all visually apparent traces of paint postdate construction of the chair. No evidence of the original finish or paint layer (if any) was found.

The woods in the chair are true Hickory (Carya, spp.) in the legs and spindles and tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) in the seat, by macroscopic examination.
Label TextThis Windsor chair is one of several similar examples discovered in or near York County in upcountry South Carolina, suggesting that all were made there. Windsor chairs of this so-called sack-back form were produced in a number of northeastern American centers, but this one differs from most of them in its proportions. Other American sack-backs are of average height and have wide seats, but the York chair is comparatively tall and features a narrow seat that results in an hourglass shape. Related chairs were made in southwestern England, which was likely the source of the York design. Notably, the earliest European settlers in what would become York County, South Carolina, were British and the territory was part of an area that was called the "Old English district" on early maps.
ProvenancePer vendor: Purchased in the 1910s by William Childs Sr., a Connecticut collector and insurance agent who moved to South Carolina about 1910. It was found on the front porch of a house in York - the seat of York County, South Carolina - in what was known regionally as the "Old English district" - presumably to differentiate it from all the Scots-Irish, Welsh, etc, in the area. Childs left the chair to his son, William Childs, Jr., who left it to his widow, Mimi Childs. The chair was acquired from the Childs family by antiques and art dealer Rob Hicklin around 1980-1985.

Exhibition(s)