Following the war for independence, Americans experienced a revolution of design, as the Rococo taste was supplanted by Neoclassicism. The vigorous motifs that characterized the Rococo idiom were replaced by elements derived from Classical antiquity, such as swags and urns. Marquetry and line inlays were reintroduced for the first time since the Late Baroque period, employed on this example to form oval patera and lunette. Appropriately, these elements are framed within a shield, described in the period as a “vase back.” Carving similar to that on the shield is found on both Boston and Salem furniture, complicating efforts to distinguish between the works of their respective craftsmen. In this instance an attribution to the former is based on the provenance of these chairs and related examples.

Technical notes: Mahogany, unidentified inlay; birch (seat rails, corner blocks). The medial stretchers are dovetailed in. On B.69.378.1 the side stretchers and rear seat rail are pinned to the stiles. The back consists of a crest rail, three vertical splats, and the two-part stay rail. The upholstery reproduces the original tacking pattern.

Related examples: Hipkiss 1941, pp. 156–57, no. 93; Montgomery 1966b, pp. 88–89, no. 33. Chairs with slight variations are Antiques 88 (July 1965), p. 17; Connoisseur 161, no. 650 (April 1966), p. LXIX; Fales 1976, pp. 72–73, no. 132; Garrett 1977, p. 1001. These chairs relate to another group with virtually identical crest rails, typified by Montgomery 1966b, pp. 89–90, no. 35, whose seat rail is stamped I*C. Related chairs are stamped SF and WF, possibly for the Boston area cabinetmakers Samuel Fiske (d. 1797) and his son William (1770–1844).

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.