- Armchair
Explore Further
This armchair with arched crest and vase-shaped splat, referred to as banister-back in the period, represents the most stylish variant of the Philadelphia crookt-foot chairs (see B.66.24). These banister-back armchairs bear certain analogies to maple rush-bottom banister-back armchairs produced in New England, and it may be that they reflect the presence in Philadelphia of imported Boston-made chairs. The molded, vertically curved arms and ball-and-ring stretcher certainly reflect New England design (see B.20.1 and B.68.3). Related Philadelphia chairs with characteristic flat arms bear the label of William Savery (1721/22–1787), who early in his career worked with Soloman Fussell. However, this example differs from the Savery chairs in several important details beyond the New England-style arm and front stretcher features. It has turned single side stretchers that swell gently at the center and have cone-shaped terminals, unlike the Savery arrangement of double unornamented stretchers, and the vase-shaped turnings of the arm supports are shorter than those found on Savery’s armchairs.
Technical notes: Soft maple; red oak (rear interior seat rail), soft maple (front and left interior seat rails), rush (replaced).
Related examples: Winterthur (Forman 1980, p. 62); Wright’s Ferry Mansion, Columbia, Pennsylvania (Zimmerman 1996, p. 736, pls. I, la).
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.
Provenance[David Stockwell (1907–1996), Philadelphia]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1953; given to MFAH, 1969.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.