Arrow-back Windsor side chair

1815-1830

Measurements

35-1/2 in x 19-1/2 in x 19-1/4 in

Materials

Ash,* Magnolia acuminata,* commonly called cucumber tree (seat)

Credit Line

Bequest of H. Rodney Sharp

Accession Number

1968.818.2

Condition Notes

The paint is very worn.

Provenance

Ex coll. H. Rodney Sharp

Comments

This arrow-back Windsor chair, with four flat-faced arrow-shaped slats and a tablet crest, is designed and made in the manner of New England examples of about 1815 to 1830.  It differs dramatically in the woods used.  The entire chair is made of ash, except the seat, which is carved out of Magnolia acuminata, a species of magnolia commonly called cucumber tree. Ash grows throughout the Eastern United States and was used regularly, in chairs, often for rungs.  Although it turns well on the lathe, turned legs were typically executed in maple, which is much finer grained.  In chairs made to be painted, such as this one, a variety of woods was used.

The most unusual feature of this chair is the cucumber tree (also cucumbertree) seat.  This wood grows throughout the Eastern United States but concentrates in the Appalachian Mountains.  The growth pattern suggests where the chair might have been made and offers a possible explanation for the use of ash in all other parts.  That the legs do not pierce the plank seat is not a regional characteristic; rather, it expresses an evolving change in construction.

The painted decoration on the chair is almost entirely worn away.  When bequeathed, this was one of a set of three, but two were deaccessioned about 1991.