Fancy armchair

c. 1810

Measurements

34 in x 21 in x 19 1/4 in

Materials

Maple, rush seat

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of Charles Lee Reese Jr.

Accession Number

1977.15

Donor

Gift of Charles Lee Reese Jr.

Inscription

"ANN JEFFERIS WILSON 1800” is engraved on a brass plaque attached to the back of the crest rail.

Condition Notes

The painted finish has worn off in several places.

Provenance

The chair was owned by Sara Clark Corbit (1871–1952), and then by her daughter, Harriet Hurd Curtis (1903–1971), the wife of the donor.  Sara's father was Daniel Wheeler Corbit (1843-1922), step-brother of Mary Corbit Warner (1848–1923).  Mary's mother was Mary Corbit Wilson (1811-1880), a daughter of Ann Jefferis (1791–1822) and David Wilson Jr. (1787-1870).

Comments

A brass plaque, probably installed by Mrs. Mary Corbit Warner, who installed several other similar plaques on a variety of objects in the collections of Historic Odessa, identifies Ann Jefferis Wilson as the original owner of this chair along with the date 1800.  The date is wrong--Ann was only 9 years old, but she married David Wilson Jr. in 1808 and was the mother of Mary Corbit Wilson, who became the second wife of Daniel Corbit in 1847.  In between, the armchair may have been part of Wilson Jr.'s 1829 bankruptcy sale, although it doesn't appear to be listed in the auction records.

Stylistically, the chair suggests a date of about 1810.  Painted black with gold striping, it was advertised as a "Japanned" or "Fancy Japanned" chair, fashionable but not very expensive.  The horizontal bars separated by balls forming slats across the chair back inspired the contemporary term of a "ball-back" chair.

Bibliography

Hotchkiss, “Wilson-Warner House,” 887, pl. III.

Zimmerman, A Storied Past, 163-164.