Slatback armchair

1790-1860

Measurements

30-3/4 in x 16-1/8 in x 14-5/8 in

Materials

Walnut, beech (slats), rush (seat)

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of H. Rodney Sharp

Accession Number

1959.3727

Condition Notes

The upper rung in the front has been sawed away.  The replaced rush seat has a heavy coat of light gray paint.  Nails are used instead of wood pegs to secure the arms to the tops of the front posts and to secure the top back slat.  Inexplicable nails are also in the centers of the arm ends. The bottoms of the feet have been sawed flat. They exhibit no wear and the plane of the sawcut does not match the plane of the floor.

Provenance

Ex coll. H. Rodney Sharp

Comments

The turned armchair has two slightly arched slats forming the back.  The arms are turned.  The black over gray paint evident on this chair is worn on the arms, tops of the rear posts and slats, and in other places.

Chairs with high seats, usually accompanied by lower-than-usual backs, were made for special purposes.  In the 19th century, Shakers produced such a chair, which they marketed as a weaver’s chair, although it could be used for a variety of purposes.

The seat cushion installed on this chair is modern, made with a fragment of early linsey Woolsey, likely taken from a bed coverlet.