This chair, with its square back, reeded stiles, and balloon seat, relates in concept to balloon-seated, scroll-back chairs produced in New York. However, the bold reeding of the legs, open at the top, is a feature that appears on a group of Baltimore sofas and tables, and this chair represents a very popular Baltimore design. On the Bayou Bend chair, the reeding of the legs takes on an appearance that is less classical and more like cluster columns in the Gothic taste. It thus relates to the architectural design of the Gothic colonnade of the back, where what might appear to be reeding is actually intended to evoke Gothic ribbing. The Gothic style was introduced into Baltimore at a relatively early date, first by Benjamin Latrobe’s unrealized 1804 design for the new Roman Catholic cathedral, and in 1806 by Maximilian Godefoy’s chapel built for Saint Mary’s Seminary.

Technical notes: Mahogany, ash, and maple (not analyzed microscopically).

Related examples: Twelve chairs made for Governor Charles C. Ridgely of Hampton display the same basic form, embellished with leaf carving on the crest (Hampton National Historic Site, Baltimore); six in a private Baltimore collection are identical to the Bayou Bend example (Weidman et al. 1993, fig. 151); Maryland Historical Society (Weidman 1984, no. 63); Christie’s, New York, sale 6742, January 20–21, 1989, lot 546.

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.