Ephraim Tinkham, II
Great Chair

MakerAmerican, born England, 1649–1713
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Great Chair
Datec. 1675–1690
Made inPlymouth Colony, Massachusetts, United States
MediumAsh, white oak, and soft maple
Dimensions43 1/2 × 23 1/8 × 15 3/4 in. (110.5 × 58.7 × 40 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.56.4
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Murphy Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

It is rare that the work of an individual seventeenth-century chairmaking shop can be identified. In general, the turned members, triple spindles of the back, finials, and front post terminals of this small example conform to the norm of turned great chairs produced in Massachusetts in the late seventeenth-century and known today by the generic term Carver after a similar one traditionally owned by Governor John Carver (1575–1621) of the Plymouth Colony. However, the distinctive turnings of this example, in particular, the double flattened ball of the front post terminals, have been identified as hallmarks of one of a related group of Plymouth County craftsmen whose style is thought to have evolved in the shop of Ephraim Tinkham II.

Technical notes: Ash (posts, stretchers), white oak (rear seat rail), soft maple (middle vertical spindle); rush (replaced).

Related examples: St. George 1979, figs. 46, 47, 49; Sotheby's, New York, sale 5599, June 26, 1987, lot 200, a similar example but with turnings under the seat in the so-called Brew­ster style.

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 owned by the Ellis family of Carver, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; [John S. Walton, New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, June 29, 1956; given to MFAH, by 1966.
Exhibition History
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[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.

Side Chair
c. 1720–1750
Painted poplar, soft maple, black ash, elm, and white oak
B.69.46
Great Chair
c. 1670–1700
Soft maple and white oak
B.60.32
Armchair
c. 1785–1800
Eastern white pine, soft maple, ash, red oak, and white oak
B.69.402
Easy Chair
c. 1740–1795
Black walnut; white oak, soft maple, ash, and yellow-poplar
B.69.31
Side Chair
Thomas Seymour
c. 1819–1825
Mahogany; ash, soft maple, mahogany, and white oak
B.88.2
Armchair
c. 1790–1800
Eastern white pine, soft maple, white oak, mahogany, and ash. Old but not original green paint.
B.69.411
Sideboard
Joseph Meeks & Sons
c. 1825–1835
Gilded mahogany and mahogany veneer; white oak, soft maple, ash, eastern white pine, and yellow-poplar
B.67.6
Armchair
c. 1785–1800
Soft maple, white oak, ash, and hickory
B.69.423
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
Great Chair
c. 1680–1710
Soft maple; ash
B.69.350
Writing-arm Chair
Ebenezer Tracy
c. 1770–1803
Eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, soft maple, white oak, chestnut, and butternut
B.69.409
Armchair
c. 1785–1795
Yellow-poplar, soft maple, oak, and ash
B.69.410