The continuous-bow Windsor armchair, with the arm and back made of one sinuous piece of bent wood, apparently originated in New York City after the American Revolution and then spread north to Rhode Island (see B.69.415), Connecticut (see B.69.422), and Massachusetts. The form’s design, which seems to have no English prototype, makes a strong visual impression. The concept of arm flowing into back and crest parallels that seen in the cabriole sofa introduced at the same period (see B.61.13), but that may be only coincidental. The vigorously turned raked legs and canted arm supports are typical of this type of Windsor.

Technical notes: Yellow-poplar (seat), soft maple (legs, stretchers, left arm support), oak (spindle fifth from left), ash (all remaining spindles). 

Related examples: Evans 1996, p. 203, fig. 5–19; Santore 1987, p. 147, no. 149, p. 148, no. 150.

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.