Painted Side Chair

Date1845-1860

MediumTulip poplar, various hardwoods, and paint

DimensionsOH: 33 1/4"; OW: 19"; OD: 16" OH: 84.4 cm.l OW: 48.2 cm.; OD: 40.6 cm.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1972.2000.3

DescriptionRed painted side chair with vase-shaped splat and plank seat. Grain decorated with black striping. Gold banding around the front stretcher. Black and gold banding around the back of the chair. Crest rail has stepped center section and rounded ends. Underside is shaped with gothic arches flanking the vasiform splat. Turned stiles taper from center towards top and bottom, ball turning at top, double ring turnings one quarter of way from seat. Plank seat with rounded front edge. Turned front and rear legs, side and rear stretchers. Front legs are shaped with two balls separated by baluster at level of side stretcher and above front stretcher. Legs taper from ball to foot and have a cylindrical form from ball to seat. Front rectangular board stretcher.
Label TextThis chair was probably made by a rural chairmaker who serviced a local clientele. Featuring a scrolled crest resembling an Ionic capitol with ogee cut-outs and a baluster-shaped splat, this back copies urban chairs popularized about 1830. However, rudimentary rosewood graining, heavy turnings, and the thick seat make the chair appear somewhat ungainly. Although lacking the refinement of urban seating forms, the chair was versatile, stylish, and sturdy, and it lent a measure of good taste to a domestic interior.
InscribedWritten on the bottom of the seat in black paint and pencil is "Franklin Sidler/about 1860/Lavinia Sandel/about 1865/Minnie C. Sandel Hartley/June 14, 1925/M. Alice Sandel Haines/bought April 18, 1942".
ProvenanceMildred and Edward Bohne, Newmantown, Penn.

Appears to have descended in the Sidler/Sandel family of Montour, Northumberland, and Union County, Pennsylvania. Line of descent as inscribed on the underside of the chair seat: Franklin Sidler (1835-1891) about 1860 to his sister Lavinia Sidler Sandel (1833-1905) about 1865; to her dauther Minnie Sandel Hartley (1873-1933) in 1925; to her sister Martha Alice Sandel Haines (1864-1956) in 1942. May have originally been owned by Jacob (1798-1860) & Elizabeth (1797-1854) Sidler, parents of Franklin and Lavinia.