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Masonic Master's chair

Dateca. 1765

Possibly by Anthony Hay

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg

MediumAll components are of mahogany.

DimensionsOH: 52 1/4"; OW: 29 1/2"; OD: 26 1/4"

Credit LineLoaned by Williamsburg Masonic Lodge Six

Object number1991-5,A (L)

DescriptionConstruction: Standard mortise-and-tenon joinery is used for the legs and seat rails. The arms are butted to the rear stiles and held in place with long screws driven from the rear and covered with mahogany plugs. The rear panel is simply tenoned into the crest and seat rails and is butted against the stiles. Modern screws hold the knee blocks in place.
Label TextThis Masonic Master's chair was built for Williamsburg Lodge 6, which still owns it, shortly before the American Revolution. Now on long-term loan to CWF, the chair combines a broad array of Masonic imagery with standard rococo ornamentation. According to oral tradition, Lord Botetourt, royal governor of Virginia from 1768 to 1770, commissioned it for the lodge, but it may predate his tenure. Although the chair's maker cannot be documented, there is no question that he was inspired by the earlier Governor's chair (CWF acc. 1930-215). The Lodge 6 chair has been attributed to the Anthony Hay shop of Williamsburg by furniture scholar Wallace Gusler, who convincingly argues that the chair's somewhat flattened, stylized carving reflects the efforts of a less-talented carver to duplicate certain aspects of the Governor's chair. For example, the execution of the lion's heads on the Masonic chair does not equal the delicate anatomical rendering achieved by the earlier carver. The maker of the Masonic chair also simplified the acanthus design on the arm supports by using broader and flatter veining, and he did not attempt the complex turned-back leaf tip below the lion's head on the Governor's chair.

The design and execution of the Lodge 6 chair represent a monumental achievement by American standards despite differences in the carver's ability. The deeply carved back is formed from one solid mahogany plank twenty inches wide and almost two inches thick. Adorned with a variety of carefully carved symbols and decorative elements, the back prominently features the arms of the London Company of Masons. Enriched with a dense weaving of acanthus leaves, these arms are flanked by symbolic references to Scotland and England in the form of a thistle and a rose.

The lower portion of the chair back exhibits classical columns in three different orders, apparently an allusion to the three ideological supports of the Lodge: wisdom, strength, and beauty. Euclid's forty-seventh problem engraved between the second and third columns reflects the Masons' need to understand the arts and sciences. Other allegorical symbols identify the various officers of the Lodge and match the "jewels" worn by them during meetings: the Senior Warden's level, symbolic of equality; the Junior Warden's plumb, representing uprightness; and the Master's square, emblematic of virtue.

Two other Masonic masters' chairs and at least two chairs for lesser lodge officers from pre-Revolutionary Virginia survive, more than from any other American colony. The existence of these chairs suggests that Virginia Masons may have been following the lead of their English brethren by establishing permanent meeting spaces in which to house their specialized furniture and other regalia. During the same 1750-1775 period, most lodges in other American colonies, particularly those in the North, held meetings in taverns and public facilities.
InscribedNone.
MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceThe chair has been owned by Williamsburg Masonic Lodge 6 since the late colonial period.

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