Roundabout Chair

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Roundabout Chair
Datec. 1730–1790
Made inRhode Island, United States
MediumBlack walnut; soft maple
Dimensions31 5/8 × 32 3/4 × 30 1/4 in. (80.3 × 83.2 × 76.8 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.250
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The term roundabout is the most descriptive and frequent period designation for these chairs, although contemporary sources also refer to them as corner half-moon, corner elbow, smoking, barber’s, writing, and desk chairs. Today it is generally recognized that they were intended for use at a desk, their configuration suggesting a forerunner to the swivel chair. The reversed orientation of the unusually shaped banisters makes this a singular example. A New England origin seems probable in light of its design, secondary wood, construction, and exhibition history.

Technical notes: Black walnut; soft maple (slip seat). The legs show evidence of cross stretchers. The front leg is mortised and tenoned into the seat rails. The seat frame lip is integral with the rail. The inside seat rail repeats the contour of its curvilinear exterior. The banisters are inverted into the rear seat rails. The arms are carved and molded, stopping short of the crest and central support. They are joined and capped by the T-shaped crest. The slip seat retains its original foundation and leather cover. The rear seat rail bears the label: “Mrs. E. A. Duncan.”

 Related examples: This chair is most like one advertised in Antiques 94 (November 1968), p. 698, and reminiscent of a group of tea tables (Sack 1969–92, vol. 7, pp. 1838, 1924, nos. P5109, 5201).

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, descended in the Bowler family of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and the Duncan family of Philadelphia; […] W. Richmond, by September 27, 1951; [Ginsburg & Levy, New York, July 27, 1951–September 30, 1952]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, September 30, 1952; given to MFAH, prior to 1969.
Exhibition History

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Label on rear seat rail: Mrs. E. A. Duncan
[no 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.

Easy Chair
c. 1730–1760
Black walnut and soft maple; soft maple, hard maple, beech, and sylvestris pine
B.69.252
scan from file photograph
c. 1740–1795
Black walnut; black walnut, sweetgum, cherry, and soft maple
B.69.251
Easy Chair
c. 1730–1800
Black walnut and soft maple; soft maple
B.59.95
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1755–1775
Black walnut; soft maple
B.69.90.1
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1755–1775
Black walnut; soft maple
B.69.90.2
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1735–1765
Black walnut and soft maple
B.60.31.2
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1735–1765
Black walnut and soft maple
B.60.31.1
Side Chair
c. 1740–1760
Black walnut; soft maple
B.60.51
Easy Chair
c. 1740–1795
Black walnut; white oak, soft maple, ash, and yellow-poplar
B.69.31
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1730–1800, decoration added c. 1800–1843
Black walnut; soft maple and eastern white pine
B.69.247.1
scan from file photograph
c.1730–1800, decoration added c. 1800–1843
Black walnut; soft maple and eastern white pine
B.69.247.2
High Chest
c. 1700–1725
Black walnut, burled walnut veneer, soft maple, and aspen; eastern white pine, hemlock, and birch
B.69.43