Bow-back Windsor armchair

1790-1810 Measurements 35-1/2 in x 19 in x 21-3/8 in Materials Tulip poplar* (seat), mahogany* (arms), white oak* (bow and arm supports), hickory* (spindles), maple* (legs and stretchers) Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number 1971.555 Condition Notes

The chair was repainted a pea green by Winterthur about 1980.  It was repainted a deeper green in 2022, and the mahogany arms were stripped and given a clear finish to show the wood.

Provenance

Bequest of Dr. and Mrs. J. Newberry Reynolds to The David Wilson Mansion, Inc., in 1942.

Comments

The bow-back Windsor armchair has an oak bow that encloses nine bamboo-turned spindles.  All spindles except the center and outside spindles go completely through the bow.  An S shaped mahogany arm tenons into the bow and is supported underneath by a turned arm support and a single spindle.  The arm has no scratch beading or other edge details and likely never had any. The board seat is essentially D shaped with only shallow inward cuts at the sides (characteristic of shield-shaped seats); scooping is shallow.  Four bamboo-turned legs joined by H stretchers pierce the seat.