William Seaver and Nathaniel Frost
Side Chair

Side Chair

Public Domain

Side Chair
Makerpartnership active 1799–1803
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Side Chair
Datec. 1800–1805
Made inBoston, Massachusetts, United States
MediumEastern white pine, birch, ash, and soft maple
Dimensions36 3/8 × 16 1/8 × 21 in. (92.4 × 41 × 53.3 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.427
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Folk Art Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

While the bow-back Windsor is a relatively common form, this example, with its yoke-shaped front stretcher, represents a design that seems to be peculiar to side chairs thought to have been produced by the Boston shop of Seaver and Frost. The undulating bamboo-turned spindles are also typical of the Boston area.

Technical notes: Eastern white pine (seat), birch (right rear leg), ash (crest rail, front curved stretcher, spindle third from left, wedges in legs), soft maple (left side stretcher, wedges in legs). Old but not original dark green paint. 

Related examples: Santore 1987, p. 137, no. 142; a related though not identical example, branded Seaver and Frost (letter from Nancy Goyne Evans, July 24, 1975, in object files); a third with partial brand at Chipstone (Rodriguez Roque 1984, no. 104); Evans 1996, p. 358, figs. 6–207, 6–208.

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.


Provenance[Rudolph P. Pauly, Boston]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1927; given to MFAH, 1969.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Side Chair (one of a pair)
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, beech, birch, and hard maple
B.69.376.1
scan from file photograph
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany; eastern white pine, ash, beech, birch, and hard maple
B.69.376.2
Side Chair (one of a pair)
John Townsend
Side Chair (one of a pair)
1800
Mahogany; birch, soft maple, eastern white pine, and poplar
B.66.11.1
Side Chair (one of a pair)
John Townsend
Side Chair (one of a pair)
1800
Mahogany; birch, soft maple, eastern white pine, and poplar
B.66.11.2
Side Chair (one of a pair)
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1785–1799
Mahogany and ebony; eastern white pine, ash, and soft maple
B.61.92.1
scan from file photograph
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1785–1799
Mahogany and ebony; eastern white pine, ash, and soft maple
B.61.92.2
Easy Chair
Easy Chair
c. 1715–1735
Soft maple, eastern white pine, hard maple, and birch
B.58.104
Gentleman's Secretary
Gentleman's Secretary
c. 1790–1820
Mahogany, eastern white pine, soft maple, and unidentified inlay; birch, yellow-poplar, and eastern white pine
B.61.94
Drop-Leaf Table
Drop-Leaf Table
c. 1730–1800
Soft maple and birch; eastern white pine and birch
B.69.220
Card Table
Card Table
c. 1820–1830
Grained, painted, and gilded mahogany, and birch; mahogany veneer on eastern white pine with black walnut banding, ash, eastern white pine, cherry, and original brass casters
B.68.31
Table
Table
19th century
Eastern white pine, birch, soft maple
B.69.436
High Chest
High Chest
c. 1700–1725
Black walnut, burled walnut veneer, soft maple, and aspen; eastern white pine, hemlock, and birch
B.69.43