3-slat side chair

1790-1860

Measurements

35-3/4 in x 18-1/4 in x 16 in

Materials

Maple; rush seat

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation

Accession Number

1967.279

Condition Notes

The chair was once fitted with rockers.  Slots for the rockers are now filled with wood.  The left rear leg has split outside the slot for the rocker, and the split wood has been reattached with two visible screws.  A piece from the back bottom edge of the bottom slat has split away.

Provenance

A note on an early cataloguing sheet, completed when the chair was owned by Winterthur, says that it was purchased in 1967 from Mrs. W. Willis Hammer (?) of “The Ox Bow” (presumably an antiques store), in Milford, Delaware.

Comments

The three-slat turned side chair has rear posts ending in large ovoid finials that stand on reel turnings and come to a rounded point at the top.  The back is comprised of three arched slats that are cut straight across the bottom.  The vast majority of this type of chair made in the Delaware Valley has slats with arches cut along the bottom edge as well as the top.  The unadorned front and rear legs taper slightly, the lower part being the thicker dimension.  They are joined by boxed rungs, two on each side and one near the bottom in the back.  The middle slat appears to have been made of two pieces of wood, glued about midway between the top and bottom edges.  A dark brown paint (appearing black) covers a bluish-green paint that is over a red wash.

The absence of any taper at the bottoms of the four legs suggests that this chair may have been made originally with rockers, now removed.  The weaving pattern of the rush seat suggests that it was likely replaced sometime in the decades around 1900.