Arm Chair
Period1755 - 1780
MediumWalnut
Dimensions45.2 × 29.25 × 23.5 in. (114.8 × 74.3 × 59.7 cm)
ClassificationsSeating Furniture
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Lewis E. Waring, 1944
Object number2030
DescriptionAn exceptionally tall arm chair with a flaring back and yoke-shaped crest rail ending in knuckled ears, it includes a symmetrical pierced and strap-scrolled splat. The open voluted arms rest on curved arm supports. Deep seat rails, which are through-tenoned and wedged, sit on plain cabriole legs that terminate in trifid feet. The slip seat cover is Victorian needlepoint worked with a spray of white roses and brown leaves on a green ground. The frame on the inside surface of the seat rails that supported a chamber pot has been removed.Curatorial RemarksArm chairs such as this one, with an unusually tall back, are often believed to have been made for ceremonial purposes. The most celebrated American example would be the signer's chair at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The fact that this chair was once fitted with a chamber pot frame suggests that not all examples of this type served such lofty functions. The splat of the chair was made from a standard template that has simply been lengthened at its base to accommodate the height of the back. This chair also illustrates the problems of differentiating rural products from less ornate urban examples. The prominent ears, retention of trifid feet, and the use of walnut instead of mahogany are sometimes cited as rural characteristics. However, its provenance from the John Johnson House in Germantown, PA, challenges that stereotype. File marks on the front and side seat rails (but not on the back rail) suggest that the chair skirt might have been modified after the removal of the chamber pot frame.NotesThe provenance of this chair identifies it as having once been part of the furnishings of the John Johnson House (built 1765 - 1768) in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, PA. Mrs. J. Amory Haskell purchased the chair at the landmark Howard Reifsnyder sale of colonial furniture held 24 - 27 April 1929 at the American Art Association in New York. She then placed it on loan with the Association from 11 June 1932 to 17 April 1944, when it was returned to the Haskell estate. The chair sold again for $535.00 on 14 October 1944 at the Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York as part of the Haskell Collection, Part III, lot 789. It was bought in by Mrs. Lewis E. Waring, a daughter to Mrs. Haskell, who returned it to the Association as a gift.
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