Ladder Back Side Chair

Date1815-1845

MediumMaple and hickory

DimensionsOH: 37 3/4"; OW: 17 3/4"; OD: 17"; SD: 14 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, TIF Foundation in memory of Michelle A. Iverson

Object number2018-332

DescriptionSide chair with ball finials; cylindrical back posts are tapered from bottom up; three arched back slats; front legs turned between seat and top stretcher with a deep spool and ball turning; tapered feet; two cylindrical stretchers on front and each side, one stretcher in back; woven splint seat.
Label TextFrom the 17th century to the 1930s, ladder-back chairs were among the most common seating forms produced in Europe and America. As the ladder-back tradition spread to new places with the movement of populations, chairmakers in isolated areas often devised new shapes and details for the various parts of their chairs. For example, a Georgia ladder-back chair (#2012-176) has distinctively shaped back slats that reflect the French and German ancestry of the chair's maker.

This chair is one of several that have been recovered in Washington and Greene Counties in East Tennessee. The as-yet unidentified maker ornamented both the front and rear feet, as did the majority of southern chairmakers. His design differs from most in the addition of deeply incised rings in the front legs just below the seat.
ProvenanceDescended in the Rhea family of Greene County, Tennessee.

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