Windsor Writing-Arm Chair

Datec. 1820

MediumHickory, white pine, iron, and paint

DimensionsOH: 34 1/4"; OW: 37 1/4": OD: 34"

Credit LineGift of Burlington Gwathmey Memorial Foundation

Object number1988.2000.1

DescriptionRectangular crest rail above five arrow-shaped and turned spindles. Arm with scrolled handhold on proper left side supported by one turned and two arrow-shaped spindles. Elliptical seat mounted on baluster and ring turned legs joined by turned stretchers with the medial stretcher having two ring turnings. A forward facing drawer is suspended from two runners attached to underside of seat. In place of proper right arm is a cantilevered rectangular writing surface with two drawers mounted below, one mounted at front facing seat, the second mounted at center facing the rear. A turned support extends from underside of writing surface vertically to floor. Painted green with yellow pin striping on legs and stretchers.
Label TextDuring the second half of the eighteenth century, specialized forms of Windsor seating furniture began to appear in America. Settees, rocking chairs, children's chairs, and writing-arm chairs were the most common variants produced by chair makers in response to their client's demands for more practical and versatile forms.

This writing-arm Windsor is a rural interpretation of the form popularized in New England - especially Connecticut - and Philadelphia. The chair is noteworthy because it was probably made from fragments of an earlier chair: the legs and stretchers display turnings from the late eighteenth century, and the arrow-shape spindles on the back of the chair probably date no earlier than 1820. The maker may have salvaged the undercarriage of an earlier chair and added a seat, arms, back, and writing paddle of his own design.
ProvenanceDescended from John Gwathey, King William, Virginia.