Easy Chair

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Easy Chair
Datec. 1750–1800
Made inMassachusetts, United States
MediumMahogany, soft maple, and birch; soft maple and birch
Dimensions47 1/4 × 37 × 32 1/4 in. (120 × 94 × 81.9 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.57.76
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Massachusetts Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

With the Rococo’s assimilation, the contours of the easy chair evolved in response to the new fashion. The Late Baroque’s curvilinear seat frames became straight, tapering backward, while the rounded crest rail took on a serpentine shape. New England chairs retained their stretchers, while their New York and Philadelphia counterparts incorporated more substantial framing so that these unharmonious structural components were no longer deemed necessary.

Technical notes: Mahogany (front legs), soft maple (rear legs), birch (rear stretcher); soft maple (side seat rails), birch (front and rear seat rails). Since the frame retains its original webbing and sacking on the back and wings, it was not possible to sample the interior framework.

Related examples: Campbell 1975, p. 43; Heckscher 1985, p. 125, no. 73; Heckscher 1987a, pp. 97–98, fig. 83; Baumgarten 1993, pp. 5–6.

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[Windsor White, New York, by July 17, 1951]; [Ginsburg & Levy, New York, 1951–1957]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, June 17, 1957; given to MFAH, by 1966.
Exhibition History

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Easy Chair
c. 1780–1800
Mahogany; soft maple and birch
B.60.84
Easy Chair
c. 1750–1780
Soft maple; birch and soft maple
B.66.1
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
Easy Chair
c. 1715–1735
Soft maple, eastern white pine, hard maple, and birch
B.58.104
Side Chair (one of a pair)
John Townsend
1800
Mahogany; birch, soft maple, eastern white pine, and poplar
B.66.11.1
Side Chair (one of a pair)
John Townsend
1800
Mahogany; birch, soft maple, eastern white pine, and poplar
B.66.11.2
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
Armchair
c. 1750–1800
Mahogany; soft maple and birch
B.57.95
Bedstead
c. 1800–1820
Mahogany, birch, basswood, and eastern white pine; soft maple
B.69.393
Drop-Leaf Table
c. 1730–1800
Soft maple and birch; eastern white pine and birch
B.69.220
Armchair
c. 1700–1725
Soft maple; hard maple, birch, ash, poplar, aspen poplar or cottonwood
B.69.44