Side chair

Date1805-1815

MediumMahogany, ash (by microanalysis), and yellow pine (by microanalysis).

DimensionsOH: 36 1/2" OW: 21 1/4" OD: 18"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1992-20

DescriptionAppearance: Side chair with molded stiles and crest rail, which is characterized by its indented corners; three vertical banisters in the form of columns with Egyptian palm-frond terminals, set into lower back rail; swelled seat shape; square rear legs below seat, columnar turned front legs at the front.

Construction: The stiles and the banisters are tenoned into the crest rail. The banisters are also tenoned into the stay rail, which, in turn, is tenoned into the stiles. The seat rails are tenoned into the stiles and legs and are reinforced with large triangular glue blocks in the rear corners and open diagonal braces at the front. Two large blocks were originally glued and nailed to the upper surfaces of the side seat rails where they join the stiles. These blocks mirrored the uncommonly large upholstery peaks atop the front legs and were used in tandem with stuffed edge rolls or strips of webbing to create a cavity for the seat stuffing.

Materials: Mahogany crest rail, stiles, banisters, stay rail, and legs; ash seat rails (by microanalysis); yellow pine corner blocks and diagonal braces (by microanalysis).
Label TextStrategically located at the farthest point of navigation on the Rappahannock River, Fredericksburg was the principal market town for much of east central Virginia from the mid-eighteenth century through the early national period. With a population of nearly fifteen hundred people by 1790, it is not surprising that Fredericksburg was also home to a sizable community of artisans. Although records reveal that a number of them were well-established furniture makers, the goods these tradesmen produced have only recently been recognized as local manufactures. This side chair of mahogany, ash, and yellow pine is one of a growing number of pieces now attributed to the city. Its ornamentation and execution illustrate the way in which post-Revolutionary Fredericksburg cabinetmakers borrowed and reinterpreted American and British designs to create a local neoclassical style.

"Banister"-back chairs of this general form were made on both sides of the Atlantic, and variations were illustrated in several published design manuals, notably Sheraton's 1793 Drawing Book. Certain elements of the chair's design, however, appear to have been inspired directly by the products of chairmakers working in American seaports to the north. The "hollow cornered" crest rail and the cluster of three leaf-carved banisters or ribs on the CWF chair are closely related to those on contemporary Baltimore chairs, while the simply turned front legs resemble those on many New York examples. Design amalgamation was not uncommon in postwar Fredericksburg, as evidenced by side chairs such as CWF acc. 1992-19, which exhibits a racquet-shaped splat and a comparatively short back frame akin to those normally seen on neoclassical chairs and settees from Philadelphia.

There can be little doubt that the makers of these objects took their cues from imported northern furniture, a resource that was increasingly available in Fredericksburg and other southern ports after the Revolution. Fashionable and inexpensive northern venture furniture was so plentiful in towns like Fredericksburg that local tradesmen often found it necessary to champion their own products in newspaper advertisements. Fredericksburg cabinet- and Windsor chairmakers Alexander Walker (w. 1798-1830) and James Beck (w. 1802-1821) posted a typical notice in 1802, proclaiming their goods to be "of the newest fashions, and at the northern prices," adding that "the quality is equal, if not superior" to that of imported wares.

That such claims were often accurate is indicated by the stylish, high-quality workmanship of objects such as CWF tall clock acc. 1987-547. On the other hand, some artisans in small towns like Fredericksburg could mimic "the newest fashions" but were not necessarily conversant with the sophisticated techniques employed by their highly specialized counterparts in larger cities. The present chair is a case in point. Here the expediently carved ornament and the awkward nature of the original upholstery system reveal the maker's valiant attempts to meet the challenge of imported northern chairs despite his apparent lack of experience in such work.

InscribedNone.
MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceThe chair was acquired in 1992 from Pennsylvania antiques dealer Randall Huber, who stated that it had been purchased directly from descendants of the Green family in Fredericksburg, Va.

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