Easy chair

1800-1815

Measurements

45-1/2 in x 32-1/4 in x 27 in

Materials

Cherry; cherry (rear stiles, crest, and stay rail), hard pine (arms and arm supports), oak (curved wing stiles)

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of H. Rodney Sharp

Accession Number

1959.3773

Condition Notes

The easy chair survives in excellent condition.

Provenance

Ex coll. H. Rodney Sharp

Comments

This easy chair, now stripped of all upholstery, must have made a dramatic visual statement when in use in a room.  The frame, which survives in excellent condition, has a deeply serpentine-shaped crest rail that ends in sharp points at each side.  Those points terminate the wings or cheeks that are strong ogee or S shapes.  (For a lolling chair  identified as from Massachusetts and having a similar back shape, see Winterthur Museum, accession no. 1957.652.)  The front vertical or stile of the wings is cut to shape from a piece of oak.  The back of the wing exhibits the same curve.  Below the horizontal cylindrical arms, the easy chair is tame.  It has unembellished Marlborough legs in front and squared legs in back--none of which have the customary chamfer cut along the inside edge.  The H stretchers are relatively substantial is size.  The medial brace attaches with the usual sliding half-dovetail.  The woods, being cherry with hard pine and oak, suggest the region of origin for the chair.

The seat frame is not very deep front-to-back, suggesting the possibility of relatively non-urban origin for the chair.  Like many easy chairs, especially those of the early 19th century, it once served as a chamber chair.  A Wood strip nailed around the insides of the seat rails provided support for a wooden deck that in turn supported a chamber pot, all accessed from underneath a seat cushion.

Marks for two vertical straps in the back are clearly visible on the front face of the crest rail.  The relative absence of nail holes allows relatively clear interpretation of the original upholstery application.