Armchair, ladderback

Date1740-1780

MediumMaple, oak, and rush

DimensionsOH: 36 1/8"; OW: 23"; OD: 16 5/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1951-358

DescriptionLadderback armchair with four plain arched top horizontal slats mortised between two back posts, surmounted by acorn finials. Back posts are round, interrupted by ball turnings between the top three slats and continuing down to form back legs, two horizontal shaped arms at slight angles terminating in a scroll supported on turned recessed arm uprights which are doweled into the seat frame and continue down where they are doweled into the top side stretcher. Rush seat, short plain round turned front legs connected by two front, side and one back stretcher, the back and side stretchers are plain round turnings and the two front stretchers are turned in a baluster form.

Woods: The posts, stretchers, and arms are maple, the slats are oak.
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceThe vendor's mother was the great granddauther of Elijah Williams who carried dispatch for Gov. Trumbull of Connecticut to Gen. Washington. Family history suggests that pieces of furniture were brought from Connecticut to Providence, Rhode Island in 1795. From 1795-1917, except for the years 1826-1837, the family pieces were housed at a house on George Street in Providence. These included a chest-on-chest, owned by Moses Brown, that the vendor gave to the Rhode Island Historical Society.