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High Back Windsor Arm Chair
High Back Windsor Arm Chair
High Back Windsor Arm Chair

High Back Windsor Arm Chair

Period1750 - 1760
MediumTulip seat, maple legs and stretchers, and ash above the seat
Dimensions41.75 × 24.5 × 20 in. (106 × 62.2 × 50.8 cm)
InscribedAn adhesive label glued to underside of the seat reads, "Property of Mrs. J. A. Haskell." A second label glued to the underside of the seat reads, "The chair was in the store house at North Branch, New Jersey, when the property came into possession of my husband's mother. This property was handed down from one generation to..." The name on the second label has been intentionally obscured.
ClassificationsSeating Furniture
Credit LineGift of Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, 1936
Object number1992.536
DescriptionThis large black painted Windsor arm chair features a plain round-ended crest rail above nine plain turned spindles. The spindles fit into a curved medial rail with narrow rounded arm terminals supported by paddle-shaped posts. The large D-shaped seat rests on four splayed baluster turned legs braced with an "H" style bulbous turned stretcher assembly. The feet on this chair have worn significantly.
Curatorial RemarksThis large arm chair has been the subject of much speculation as it most closely resembles early English examples of Windsor chairs, notably in its overall form plus the use of paddle-shaped arm supports. It is, however, made of American maple, tulip poplar and ash, whereas English chairs would typically be made of elm. High back arm chairs were the first Windsors produced in Philadelphia by American craftsmen. Their characteristics included the plain rounded-end crests, narrow rounded arm terminals, slat shaped posts, a large D-shaped seat with flat-chamfered edges, and a saddle like pommel at the center front of the seat. In the past, some furniiture historians have attributed chairs of this form to Monmouth County, New Jersey, based on object provenances. But like this particular chair with a history of ownership in North Branch, Somerset County, the area of discovery does not necessary mean the item was made there. Central New Jersey, including Monmouth County, engaged in extensive trade with Philadelphia throughout the eighteenth century and beyond. For a further discussion of this early Windsor chair form, see Nancy Goyne Evans, American Windsor Chairs (New York, Hudson Hills Press in association with the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1996), 80 - 81.NotesAccording to the adhesive tape label on the underside of the seat, the chair was found in a store house in North Branch, Somerset County, New Jersey. North Branch is an unincorporated community located mostly within Branchburg Township.
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