Side Chair

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Side Chair
  • One of a Set
Datec. 1800–1820
Made inBoston area, Massachusetts, United States
MediumMahogany and unidentified inlay; soft maple and yellow-poplar
Dimensions35 3/4 × 20 3/8 × 20 1/2 in. (90.8 × 51.8 × 52.1 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of John F. Staub
Object numberB.77.24.4
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

In contrast with the “vase-back” chair and its profusion of ornament (B.69.378.1–.2), these side chairs present a more restrained interpretation. The London Chair-Makers’ and Carvers’ Book of Prices for Workmanship for 1802 describes chairs such as these as a “Square back with elliptic cornered top containing a tablet.” The design is purely linear, the only hint of classicism found in the columnarlike reeding that relieves the front legs, stiles, and diagonal slats. The execution of the latter, most typical of New York chairmaking, is otherwise unknown in New England. However, the secondary woods and related examples with a provenance recommend Boston or one of its outlying communities, Charlestown, Dorchester Lower Mills, or Roxbury, as their place of origin.

Technical notes: Mahogany, unidentified inlay; soft maple (seat rails), yellow-poplar (corner blocks). The crest rail tablet and the back’s corner joints are further accentuated by a dark line inlay. Each vertical splat is fashioned out of a single piece of wood. The corner blocks are triangular. The decorative tacking reproduces the original pattern. On the seat rails of several chairs is written: “H. R. Hill.”

Related examples: Hipkiss 1941, pp. 176–77, no. 114; Randall 1965, pp. 214–15, no. 174; Sack 1969–92, vol. 2, p. 421, no. 1061. Variations include Montgomery 1966b, pp. 84–85, no. 26; Sack 1969–92, vol. 8, p. 2215, no. P5609.

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.


ProvenanceCaroline Rogers Louder, Bangor, Maine; through her family to her granddaughter Kate Hill (Mrs. Charles W. Turner); given to her daughter Helen H. Turner; purchased by John F. Staub (1892–1981), Houston, 1945; given to MFAH, 1977.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
Written on seat rail: H.R. Hill

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Side Chair
c. 1800–1820
Mahogany and unidentified inlay; soft maple and yellow-poplar
B.77.24.3
Side Chair
c. 1800–1820
Mahogany and unidentified inlay; soft maple and yellow-poplar
B.77.24.2
Side Chair
c. 1800–1820
Mahogany and unidentified inlay; soft maple and yellow-poplar
B.77.24.1
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
Easy Chair
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany and unidentified inlay; ash, eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, and red oak
B.60.93
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1805–1820
Mahogany, birch, and unidentified inlay; birch and soft maple
B.57.70.1
Side Chair (one of a pair)
c. 1805–1820
Mahogany, birch, and unidentified inlay; birch and soft maple
B.57.70.2
Card Table
c. 1785–1820
Mahogany, satinwood, and unidentified inlay; yellow-poplar, white oak, hickory, and southern yellow pine
B.69.129
Sideboard
c. 1785–1815
Mahogany and unidentified inlay; yellow-poplar, eastern white pine, and black cherry
B.69.199
scan from file photograph
c. 1820–1835
Maple, hickory, yellow-poplar, soft maple, and hard maple; original painted decoration
B.67.30.5,.6
Bureau Table
Thomas Spencer
c. 1780–1785
Mahogany; mahogany, eastern white pine, chestnut, soft maple, and yellow poplar
B.92.6
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