Slat-back armchairs and side chairs (see B.58.148.1) constituted the staple seating furniture in Philadelphia and environs during much of the eighteenth century. The genre has been commonly identified as Delaware Valley, and scholarship has revealed Soloman Fussell as one of its major producers. These distinctive chairs combine elements of both New England and Germanic design. The flat, undercut arms are Germanic in origin, while the ball-and-ring stretcher reflects the influence of imported Boston chairs. The most noteworthy detail of this example is the faceted cabriole leg, commonly called a “crookt” foot in the period. This feature added both style and cost, as did the multiple slats. The turnings of the baluster-form arm support, made separately and joined to the top of the cabriole leg, have been identified as hallmarks of Fussell’s production. A frame of figured maple finishes off the seat. As was the practice in the period, the maple surfaces are colored with a dark stain.

Technical notes: Soft maple; hard maple (right interior seat rail), soft maple (remaining seat rails).

Related examples: Winterthur (Forman 1980, p. 47, fig. 2); MMA (acc. no. 10.125.235); private collection (Forman 1980, p. 56, fig. 12); Christie’s, New York, sale 7710, June 23, 1993, lot 131.

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.