Child’s 3-slat rocking side chair

c. 1851

Maker

Hugh Brown (1800-1875)

Measurements

30-1/2 in x 19 in x 22-1/2 in

Materials

Maple, oak (rockers), rush (seat)

Credit Line

Anonymous loan to the Historic Odessa Foundation

Accession Number

2011.67

Inscription

“MADE BY / HUGH BROWN / FOR HIS DAUGHTER / SALLIE ANN BROWN / 1851” is engraved into a metal plaque attached to the inside of the left CHECK rocker.

Condition Notes

The rush seat has a few broken and missing pieces of rush from the left middle.

Provenance

The maker of the chair was the father of Sallie Ann Brown (1837-1918), for whom he made the chair.  Sallie Ann married Eli Richard Sharp (1834-1921).  Their son was H. Rodney Sharp.  The family lived in Seaford at the time the chair was made.

Comments

This simple rocking chair scaled to a child has a shaped slat at the top above two slats of slightly graduated size.  The rear posts have flat faces, and they gently curve backward.  All four legs thicken as they approach the floor.  They attach to rockers that are let into recesses cut into the outer faces.  Screws hold the rockers in place.  Pairs of rungs create box stretchers except the back, which has only a single rung.