Lolling Chair

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Lolling Chair
Datec. 1810–1825
Made inPortsmouth, New Hampshire, United States
MediumMahogany and birch; birch and eastern white pine
Dimensions44 1/2 × 25 3/4 × 29 in. (113 × 65.4 × 73.7 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.128
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Mcintire Bedroom
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The term “lolling chair” suggests an informal piece of seating furniture for repose. This impression, however, is belied by its domestic placement and implied expense; contemporary inventories typically record them as pairs and confirm their use in both parlors and bedchambers. This superb chair, with its contrasting birch veneers, sinuous arms, and delicately turned legs and arm supports, the latter essentially a mirror image, belongs to a distinguished group assigned to Portsmouth.

Technical notes: Mahogany, birch (veneers); birch (seat rails), eastern white pine (corner blocks). Rear legs spliced to stiles. Triangular corner blocks. The present upholstery reproduces the original tacking.

Related examples: Montgomery and Kane 1976, pp. 178, 298–99, no. 132; Flanigan 1986, pp. 142–43, no. 52; Jobe et al. 1991, pp. 219–20, no. 84; Jobe et al. 1993, pp. 367–72, nos. 102, 102A, 103, 103A, 103B. Related also are a group of sofas: Montgomery 1966b, pp. 303–4, 306–7, nos. 268, 271, 272; Garvin, Garvin, and Page 1979. pp. 40–41, no. 10; Jobe et al. 1993, pp. 378–81, nos. 105, 106, 106b.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, 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.


ProvenanceHerbert Lawton, Boston; [Israel Sack (1884–1959), New York]; [Ginsburg and Levy, New York, 1945]; purchased by Ellerton Jette; [John S. Walton (1907–1985), New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1954; given to MFAH, 1969.

Exhibition History"Theta Charity Antiques Show," George R. Brown Convention Center, November 17–22, 2010.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Card Table
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Grained, painted, and gilded mahogany, and birch; mahogany veneer on eastern white pine with black walnut banding, ash, eastern white pine, cherry, and original brass casters
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scan from file photograph
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Side Chair (one of a pair)
John Townsend
1800
Mahogany; birch, soft maple, eastern white pine, and poplar
B.66.11.1
Side Chair (one of a pair)
John Townsend
1800
Mahogany; birch, soft maple, eastern white pine, and poplar
B.66.11.2
scan from file photograph
c. 1750–1800
Mahogany; eastern white pine, birch, southern yellow pine, and hickory
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Card Table
c. 1785–1815
Mahogany and unidentied inlay; mahogany, eastern white pine, and birch
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Mahogany, birch, and unidentified inlay; eastern white pine
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c. 1790–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, spruce, and birch
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