Painted Windsor Side Chair

Dateca. 1820

Attributed to Wilder of New Ipswich, N.H.

OriginAmerica, New Hampshire, New Ipswich

MediumEastern white pine, maple, birch, and paint

DimensionsOH: 34 3/4"; OW: 18 1/2": OD: 17 3/4" OH: 88.2 cm.; OW: 46.9 cm.; OD: 45.0 cm.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1973.2000.1,6

DescriptionPainted side chair in late Windsor style. Basically painted black and yellow with legs and spindles turned in the bamboo manner and striped with yellow paint at the turnings. It has a step-down crest rail decorated in a freehand design of a bowl of flowers and leaves. Yellow flourishes are used on either side of the crest rail, on the face of the stiles, on the front edge of the seat and on the face of the legs below the front stretcher.
Label TextAlthough it is unmarked, the design and dimensions of this Windsor chair, and the quality of the painted decoration link it to 73.2000.1,1, thus warranting an attribution to the Wilder shop.

This design was produced in large numbers at the Wilder factory, and a comparison of the surface decoration on this chair with than on no. 73.2000.1,1 shows how identical forms could be made to appear strikingly different, thereby widening the appeal of the design. Here, contrasts were reversed by the application of gold and yellow to a dark, mottled, faux tortoise shell ground. Then, a freehand-painted basket of fruit, clusters of grapes, and leaves were rendered in gold, yellow, olive green, burnt sienna, and black.
InscribedNos. 73.2000.1,3 and 6 have "Sarah J. Burns" inscribed in pencil on the bottoms of their seats; no. 73.2000.1,5 has "T. (or J.) B. B." written in pencil, "Edwin B. Whittemore" stamped in ink, and an chalk flourish on the bottom of the seat.
ProvenanceFound in the Exeter, N. H., area; Richard Mills, Exeter, N. H.; Maze Pottinger Antiques, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.