- Side Chair (one of a pair)
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Technical notes: Black walnut; soft maple (slip seat). The construction is typical of New England chairs from this period (see B.57.75). The seat rails are numbered 25.664. B-69.90.1: The front rail and seat are incised X. B.69.90.2: The front rail is incised VIII; the front of the slip seat bears the mark III.
Related examples: (See B.58.141.1). Another set of chairs with this provenance is recorded in Antiques 55 (June 1949), p. 417; Ott 1965, pp. 8–9, no. 8; Keno, Freund, and Miller 1996, pp. 295–96. Whether this is the same individual who purportedly owned the Bayou Bend chairs has not been determined. Coincidentally, both sets of chairs came through the same dealer.
Book excerpt: Warren, David B., Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.
ProvenanceBy tradition owned by Parson Thomas Smith of Boston and later Falmouth (now Portland), Maine, late 18th century; [F. O. Bailey Co., Maine, by May 12, 1950]; [Ginsburg & Levy, New York, May 12, 1950–June 29, 1953]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, June 29, 1953; given to MFAH, prior to 1969.
Exhibition History
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Seat rails numbered 25.664
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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