Lolling Chair

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Lolling Chair
Datec. 1785–1825
Made inUnited States
MediumMahogany and black cherry; ash and soft maple
Dimensions45 3/8 × 26 × 28 3/4 in. (115.3 × 66 × 73 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.369
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Federal Parlor
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The Neoclassical lolling chair is a singular form of American seating furniture produced only in New England. It evolved from Late Baroque and Rococo examples, often retaining the serpentine crest rail and set-back arm supports, but its overall proportions lack the breadth of its predecessors. The form was updated simply by the substitution of tapered or turned legs, arm supports extending to meet the front legs, and unupholstered wooden armrests. Here the unusual coupling of mahogany arms with mahoganized black cherry legs and stretchers prompts a rural attribution.

Technical notes: Mahogany (medial stretcher, arms), black cherry (legs, side and back stretchers, originally stained to resemble mahogany); soft maple (right seat rail), ash (remaining seat rails). The back frame was not sampled. The original tacking pattern is reproduced.

Related examples: The arm supports are reminiscent of those for a chair in Montgomery 1966b, p. 158, no. 107.

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.


ProvenanceLouis Guerineau Myers (1874–1932), New York; consigned to [American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, February 26, 1921, lot 627]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1921; given to MFAH, 1969.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Pair of Side Chairs
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c. 1750–1805
Mahogany and black cherry; soft maple
B.69.138.1,.2
Image of B.60.37.2, representative of set
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, red oak, sweetgum, and black cherry
B.60.37.2
Image of B.60.37.2, representative of set
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, red oak, sweetgum, and black cherry
B.60.37.3
Image of B.60.37.2, representative of set
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, red oak, sweetgum, and black cherry
B.60.37.4
Side Chair
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; with ash, black cherry, eastern white pine
B.64.9.1
Side Chair
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; with ash, black cherry, eastern white pine
B.64.9.2
Side Chair
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; with ash, black cherry, eastern white pine
B.64.9.3
Side Chair
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; with ash, black cherry, eastern white pine
B.64.9.4
Image of B.60.37.2, representative of set
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, red oak, sweetgum, and black cherry
B.60.37.6
Image of B.60.37.2, representative of set
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, red oak, sweetgum, and black cherry
B.60.37.7
Image of B.60.37.2, representative of set
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, red oak, sweetgum, and black cherry
B.60.37.8