Slat Back Side Chair
Maker
Cornelius A. Demarest
Period1850 - 1885
MediumMaple, and ash
Dimensions39 × 17.88 × 15.63 in. (99.1 × 45.4 × 39.7 cm)
SignedStamped "C A D" on the tops of the left and right front posts.
ClassificationsSeating Furniture
Credit LineMarshall P. Blankarn Purchasing Fund, 1969
Object number1983.427
DescriptionOne of three. A set of slat back side chairs, each with three arched slats set into plainly turned rear stiles capped with a ring below large ball and urn finials. The turned front legs end in elongated ball feet. All seven stretchers were simply dowel turned. The woven rush seats on these chairs have been replaced.Curatorial RemarksChairs of this type, long associated with Bergen County, New Jersey, continue a type of chair made in the greater New York area since the seventeenth century. A feature that distinguishes these chairs from slat backs made elsewhere in New Jersey is the form of the large finials. Because several Bergen County chairmakers produced wares in the nineteenth century in a very traditional style, these chairs often appear in the antiques marketplace with dates ranging from the mid-eighteenth century forward. Demarest's working years were roughly from 1840 to 1880. Given the crispness of the turnings and complete lack of wear on this set, they probably date from toward the end of the maker's career.NotesThree chairmakers who produced and marked their traditional slat back chairs were associated with the New Barbadoes section of Bergen County. They were Henry Zabriskie (1789-1859), Abraham Demarest (1812-1897), and Cornelius A. Demarest (1818-1885). The latter has been identified as the person who die-stamped the front posts of his chairs with the initials "CAD." He was a son of Arie Demarest (1780-1838) and Christine Bogert (1786-1868) of Spring Valley, Bergen County. Cornelius married on 3 May 1838 to Eliza Banta (1817-1883) at the Paramus Reformed Dutch Church which the Zabriskies also attended. The U. S. Census schedules listed Demarest as follows: 1850 - living in New Barbadoes Township, age 32, with wife Eliza and one son Aaron, and occupation as farmer, with real estate valued at $3,000; 1860 - living in New Barbadoes Township, age 40, with wife Eliza and one son Aaron, and occupation as a farmer, with real estate valued at $4,000 and personal estate valued at $2,000; 1870 - living in Hackensack Township (New Barbadoes Township renamed), age 52, with wife Eliza, and occupation as a chairmaker, with real estate valued at $10,000 and personal estate valued at $1,000. It seems unlikely that Demarest would have taken up traditional slat back chairmaking as a new occupation when in his 40s, or about the time of the Civil War. He is another individual who may well have been producing chairs earlier in life when his primary means of living was as a farmer in New Barbadoes Township, a place where Henry Zabriskie also resided. Given the similarities between their chairs, the closeness of their properties, and their attendance at the same church in Paramus, it is entirely possible that Demarest learned chairmaking from Zabriskie, who was twenty years older and no doubt well-established in his trade by the time Demarest served his apprenticeship.
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