The contrast of a solid banister on what is otherwise a Rococo side chair offers an alternative to the previous example in its juxtaposition of Late Baroque and Rococo elements (see B.69.76.1 and 2). This particular configuration is reminiscent of a working drawing, inscribed “Plain Chair,” attributed to the Philadelphia craftsman Samuel Mickle (b. 1746). The persistence of earlier motifs can be inferred from the 1786 Philadelphia cabinetmakers’ price list, which records “Chairs With Crooked Legs,” “plain feet & bannester,” the term plain presumably referring to a slipper or trifid foot with solid banister. A year later, cabinetmaker Charles Ford advertised “Plain, claw-feet and ornamented chairs of the newest taste,” implying the continuing preference for Late Baroque and Rococo elements into the Neoclassical period. The crest rail’s beautifully articulated cartouche and naturalistic flowering branches sharply contrast with Mickle’s terse title.

Technical notes: Mahogany; Atlantic white cedar (corner blocks). B.58.146.1: eastern white pine (slip seat sides), spruce (slip seat front and back);   B.58.146.2: yellow-poplar (slip seat). The seat rails are tenoned through the stiles. The front corner blocks are two-part quarter round, the rear composed of a single quarter round. Shims were added behind the latter to fill the void, since the shoe is deeper than the rear seat rail. The front seat rail of B.58.146.1 is stamped II and I. The front seat rail of B.58.146.2 is impressed IIII, and 21418 is recorded on the seat. A chalk inscription on the front seat rail of B.58.146.1, possibly “Chambers,” may refer to a previous owner.

Related examples: Another chair from this set is recorded in Levy Gallery 1984, p. 42. The carving’s articulation is reminiscent of that on another chair and a high chest illustrated in Antiques 31 (April 1937), p. 189 and PMA 1976, pp. 132–35, no. 104a. Luke Beckerdite assigns the carving to Nicholas Bernard and Martin Jugiez (d. 1815).

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, 1988.