Skip to main content
Advanced Search
1963.2000.1, Settee
Settee, painted, grained
1963.2000.1, Settee

Settee, painted, grained

Date1825-1840
OriginAmerica, New England (probably)
MediumEastern white pine; tulip poplar, maple, birch, paint, and metallic powder
Dimensions28" x 76" x 24" (71.1 cm. x 193.0 cm. x 60.9 cm.)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1963.2000.1
DescriptionRed and black grained bench decorated with gold stencilling and striping. Flat crest rail supported by sixteen spindles and stiles at each end; arms sweep down from crest into scrolls supported by three spindles and arm support; board seat and straight skirt; front legs integral with arm support, turned below seat rail with double ring and baulster shape; rear legs, square in cross section, with castors.

Construction: The settee is mortised and tenoned, and modern screws were added to reinforce the lap joint connecting the crest and the stiles. Unfinished boards that supported cushions are nailed into rabbets in the front and rear seat rails.
Label TextPlank-bottomed settees provided a relatively inexpensive alternative to upholstered sofas. Windsor settees were the most common form made in America until the early nineteenth century when fancy settees became available, often sold en suite with chairs of matching design and decoration. This settee's spindles, scrolled arms, rosewood graining, stenciled grape leaves, and freehand-painted tendrils show it's stylistic debts to both Windsor and fancy seating furniture. Chairs having stenciled decoration over rosewood graining are common, but a settee with this combination is unusual. Unlike most painted settees, this example was fitted with boards to support cushions rather than caning.
ProvenanceMary Allis, Fairfield, Conn.