Side Chair, painted

Datec. 1835

MediumWhite pine, maple, hickory, paint, and gilt

DimensionsOH: 32 1/2"; OW: 18"; OD: 18" (82.5 cm. x 45.7 cm. x 45. 7 cm.)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1972.2000.11

DescriptionAppearance: Side chair with simulated rosewood graining with gilt decoration. Tablet shaped crest rail has gilt decoration in a 'rinceau' form and a banding of gold outlines the crest rail. The horizontal slat has a stenciled gilt decoration of a line of garland of bead-shapes. It is painted black with red graining. The plank seat is a bell shaped with an unpainted bottom. Some of the gilding has yellow flecks, perhaps a later attempt to touch it up. The front legs have ring turnings which are gilded, and the back legs have bamboo turnings. The front and back stretchers are turned and the side stretchers are turned in the bamboo fashion.

Construction: The back posts and legs are tenoned into the seat, the back posts are tenoned into the crest, and the stay rails is mortised into the back posts. The tenons and mortises are secured with glue.
Label TextA Baltimore area association for this chair is suggested by the oval reserve surrounded by gilded foliage on the crest rail which closely resembles decoration on a Baltimore fancy side chair and a pier table believed to have been made to commemorate Lafayette's visit to that city in October 1824. This chairmaker may have been familiar with those commemorative pieces and offered less-expensive and easily mass produced versions several years later that condensed the design of Baltimore Greco-Roman fancy chairs. The shape of the seat and the bamboo turnings with "penciled" incised rings on the back legs indicate the work of craftsman familiar with Windsor chair construction.
ProvenancePeter Mack Brown, Washington, D.C.