Side Chair
Period1750 - 1770 and Later
MediumMahogany
Dimensions39.75 × 23.75 × 17.2 in. (101 × 60.3 × 43.7 cm)
InscribedThe two chairs are numbered on the upper inside edge of their seat rails, "IV" and "XI"
ClassificationsSeating Furniture
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Lewis E. Waring in memory of her mother, Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, 1944
Object number1912
DescriptionOne of two. An all mahogany side chair with a crest rail that features a five lobe carved shell flanked by leaf scroll carving that also extends onto the upper portion of the splat. The ends of the crest rail attach to the rear stiles with a volute. The open work, carved splat is enriched with further acanthus leaf carving and a tassel in its center. It connects to the rear seat rail with a bow shaped shoe. The raked rear stiles, slightly flaring at the top, end in a trifid foot variant, whereas the front legs, enriched with leaf carving on the knees below the seat rails, end in claw and ball feet. The front and side seat rails have a thumbnail molding around their upper edge. The front rail is further ornamented with a band of gadrooning along its underside. The side seat rails attach to the rear stiles with a bracket shape that is part of the rail, not an applied ornament.Curatorial RemarksThis pair of chairs represents an exercise in curatorial connoisseurship. While touted in 1944 as very rare American chairs made in New York after an English prototype, careful examination reveals a more complex story. The front legs, enriched with acanthus leaf carving and claw and ball feet, appear to be authentic, as are at least three of the four seat rails. The rear stiles, crest rail, and splat are replacements, either in the late nineteenth century or early twentieth. The manner in which the crest rail attaches to the stiles is highly unusual, with the volutes made up of thin pieces of mahogany glued over the joint. The tassels featured on the splat at least attempt to connect this pair of chairs to a larger and well known group ornamented with the same motif that were made ca. 1750 - 1770 in New York City. The carving on the splats and crest rails, while robust, does not reflect 18th century workmanship, such as is found on the knees of the legs. Inexplicable mortises have been filled on the underside of the rails, and also on the top inside surfaces of the front legs. The gadrooning along the underside of the front seat rails, also with filled mortises, appears to have come from another piece of furniture altogether. Corner blocks have been crudely carved in an attempt to match up with the leaf elements on the legs. In short, these chairs are an assemblage of parts, some apparently eighteenth century and some much later.NotesThe chairs were obtained from the Hubbard family of Middletown, Monmouth County, by antiques dealer William S. Holmes of Freehold. Their property was located at the west end of Hubbard's Bridge overlooking Red Bank. Holmes sold them to Mrs. J. Amory Haskell of Middletown, a pre-eminent early collector of Americana and major patron of the Association before her death in 1942. They were sold again on 29 April 1944 as lot 703 at the Parke-Bernet Galleries of New York in an auction titled Important XVIII Century American Furniture . . . Collected by the Late Mrs. J. Amory Haskell. They were purchased for the Association for $500, and donated to it on 2 May 1944 by Mrs. Lewis Waring, a daughter of Mrs. Haskell. The catalogue described the chairs as "One of the rarest of all types of American Chippendale chair, and showing a marked English influence; the prototype is the famous chair from the Palmer collection, which is treated with an even greater richness of detail, and of which Wallace Nutting remarked, 'The splat is quite different in style from those with which we are acquainted.' This pair is possibly unique."
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