Armchair

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Armchair
Datec. 1700–1730
Probable placeBoston (probably), Massachusetts, United States
MediumSoft maple, ash, and poplar
Dimensions48 × 24 1/2 × 24 1/2 in. (121.9 × 62.2 × 62.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.58.106
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Murphy Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The design of this banister-back armchair presents contradictions. While it displays a foliate scrolled crest and scrolled arm terminals somewhat bolder than the norm, as well as turned stiles and banis­ters crisp in profile, the juncture of the upwardly raked arms with the turned section of the stiles is awkward, and the turnings of the lower section are more schematic.

Technical notes: Soft maple (crest rail, right arm), ash (front seat rail, center banister, front stretcher), poplar (right rear post). There are four compass circles containing six-point arcs on the skirt of one long side, one trun­cated by the joint with the leg.

Related examples: B.69.54 has similar double-ball feet and tapering columnar arm supports, as opposed to vase turnings, as does an example at MFA, Boston (Randall 1965, no. 125).

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.


Provenance[Israel Sack, New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1958; given to MFAH, by 1966.
Exhibition History
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
Four compass circles containing six-point arcs on skirt of one long side, one truncated by joint with the leg

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Armchair
c. 1700–1725
Soft maple, ash, poplar, and hickory
B.69.54
Armchair
c. 1765–1770
Yellow-poplar, soft maple, ash, and hickory
B.69.413
Armchair
c. 1700–1725
Soft maple; hard maple, birch, ash, poplar, aspen poplar or cottonwood
B.69.44
Side Chair
c. 1700–1725
Poplar, ash, and soft maple
B.69.55
Side Chair
c. 1720–1750
Painted poplar, soft maple, black ash, elm, and white oak
B.69.46
Armchair
c. 1785–1795
Yellow-poplar, soft maple, oak, and ash
B.69.410
Armchair
c. 1770–1785
Yellow-poplar, soft maple, red oak, and hickory (both handholds are replacements made of ash)
B.79.204
Armchair
c. 1790–1810
Yellow-poplar, soft maple, elm, ash, birch, and beech
B.69.422
Armchair
Francis Trumble
c. 1760–1770
Yellow-poplar, ash, white oak, soft maple, and hickory (right stretcher is a replacement made of beech)
B.64.31
Armchair
c. 1790–1800
Yellow-poplar, soft maple, and hickory
B.69.434
Armchair
c. 1740–1760
Soft maple; red oak and soft maple
B.69.223
Armchair
c. 1790–1800
Eastern white pine, soft maple, white oak, mahogany, and ash. Old but not original green paint.
B.69.411