5-slat armchair

1740-1780

Measurements

46-5/8 in x 23 in x 19-5/8 in

Materials

Maple, rush seat

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of H. Rodney Sharp

Accession Number

1959.3640

Condition Notes

The chair survives in excellent condition

Provenance

Ex coll. H. Rodney Sharp

Comments

The elegantly turned armchair has slightly tapering rear posts that terminate at top in ball-and-reel finials with prominent nipples and have sharply tapered feet.  Five arched slats of graduated size and with arched undercutting form the back.  The arms have double undercuts; they attach to double baluster supports that are integral with the front legs.  The legs have a crisply turned baluster above the slightly tapered cylinder that ends in reel-and-ball feet.  The feet stand on the flared tops of what might have been longer tapered cylinders. The ring-and-ball turned front stretcher has long cones at each end with the characteristic flared end of Philadelphia regional work.  Almost all of the scribe lines around balusters, ball feet, and other turned elements are paired, rather than single.

The chair is painted a deep red.  The rush seat is woven in groups of three strands—an easier and faster technique for weaving a seat.  It was likely common in 18th century work, but too few original examples of rush seats survive to establish an accurate estimate of its frequency.