Images(5)

Side Chair

Date1795-1805

Attributed to Alexander Taylor Sr. (1737 - 1805)

Attributed to Alexander Taylor Jr. (1784-1820)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Petersburg

MediumMahogany, yellow pine, gum, and lightwood inlay

DimensionsOH: 36"; OW: 19 1/2"; OD: 20 ½"; SD: 17 ¾"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Sara and Fred Hoyt Furniture Fund

Object number2010-1

DescriptionAppearance: Side chair with square back composed of three arched sections; stiles and banisters incurve at top with carved tulip motif then widen back to full width and taper towards stay rail with inlaid guilloche and dark colored dot terminating at bottom in inlaid bellflower; crest rail has four rectangular reserves at ends and between the three arched sections along bottom of rail; reserves are proud of rail and have small sequence of arches carved inside of top and bottom edges; crest rail inlaid between reserves with light and dark round and oval dots following curve of arches below them; stay rail has four square carved fluted sections at base of each stile and banister; trapezoidal upholstered seat with diagonal corner braces between rails at each corner; legs square in cross section taper towards foot; rear legs angled backwards; rectangular side and medial stretchers.

Construction: Stiles and banisters are tenoned and glued into crest rail and stay rail. Stay rail is tenoned and glued into the stiles, which are integral with rear legs. Seat rails are tenoned and glued into front and rear legs. Mitered diagonal corner braces between seat rails at each corner are glued into V-shaped notches in the rails. Side stretchers are tenoned and glued into the legs. Medial stretcher is joined to side stretchers with dovetails (glued) that are blind on the top side.

Upholstery Evidence: This chair has had only two campaigns of upholstery: its original campaign and the modern upholstery removed prior to conservation.

Nail and fragmentary fabric evidence shows that there were two 2inch webbing strips side-to-side and front-to-back, tacked to the top surfaces of the seat rails, including the rabbet on the inside top face of the rear seat rail. The foundation linen, also with surviving fragmentary evidence under nails, was also tacked to the top faces of seat rails and inside rear rail rabbet. The chair survives with its original upholstery peaks, which have not been cut down. Tack evidence as well as fragments of original cord trapped under nails on the outside faces of the front and side seat rails show that the chairhad stuffed-and-stitched rolls on the front and side seat rails. The top linen was tacked to the side faces of the seat rails and the rabbet on the outside face of the rear seat rail. Show cloth was tacked to the under sides of the seat rails and the outside rabbet of the rear seat rail.

In addition to the previous fragmentary fabric remains, there was also a textile fragment under an original nail on the bottom surface of the front seat rail (see image below); this fragment of brown wool is consistent with a needlework show cloth.

There is clear evidence of a single row of brass nails at the bottom outside faces of the seat rails and the rear rabbet of the rear seat rail; furthermore, the pattern is elevated at the rear stiles and the seat corners. The pattern overlaps onto the primary wood of the stiles, indicating that the upholsterer failed to start tacking at the ends of the row first, and was forced to shift the brass nails off the fabric at the rear.
Label TextThis elegant side chair is attributed to the Petersburg, Virginia cabinetmakers Alexander Taylor, Sr. (1735-1805) and or his son Alexander Jr. (1784-1820) and is one of the most highly ornamented chairs known to have been produced in that city. The maker relied on Thomas Sheraton’s "The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book" (London, 1793) or George Heplewhite's "The Cabinet-Maker an Upholstrer's Guide" (1794) for the overall design of the chair but incorporated his own ornamentation including an inlaid intertwined guilloche descending the banisters of the back and terminating in a bellflower. That inlaid motif is also seen on a table signed by Alexander Taylor in 1803.

The chair descended in the Cocke-Archer-Irving family of Woodlands Plantation, Amelia County, Virginia, just west of Petersburg. The house, built around 1780 was an impressive structure with a fully paneled parlor that incorporated full height Ionic pilasters and delicate neoclassical carving. The elegant set of chairs, of which this is one, would have been a stylish addition to this room.
ProvenanceHistory in the Cocke-Archer-Irving family of Woodlands, Amelia Co., Virginia. Probable line of descent: Richard Archer (1760-1796) and his wife, Mary Magdalene Chastain Cocke (1775-1849), of Amelia County, Virginia, to their son: OR Stephen Cocke (1754-1794) and his wife, Jane Segar Eggelston (1756-1835), of Woodlands," Amelia County, Virginia, to their grandson: Richard Thompson Archer (1797-1867) and his wife, Ann Maria Barnes (d. 1893), of "Woodlands," Amelia County, and "Anchuka," Port Gibson, Claiboirne County, Mississippi, to their daughter, Ann Maria Archer (1840-1901) and her husband, Dr. Charles Robert Irving, Jr. (1835-1914) of "Evenholm," "Woodlands," and "Sherwood," Amelia County, Virginia, to their son, Richard Archer Irving (1869-1915) and his wife, Olivia Cecelia Moussette 1884-1954), of Amelia County, Virginia, to their daughter, Ann Maria Archer Irving (b. 1906) and her husband, Reginald Harrell Potts (b. 1897) of Amelia County, Virginia, to their son, Richard I. Potts (1928-2009) of Amelia County, Virginia. Purchased from the Potts estate by Sumpter Priddy III, Inc. at Randy's auction, Norfolk, Virginia.

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