Chippendale Fretwork-Carved Mahogany Upholstered Open Armchair

Object Details

Object Essay

Upholstered chairs with open arms were frequently made in large sets for aristocratic English houses, but they were uncommon in the American colonies. One reason for their rarity was their cost. On the 1772 list of prices for cabinetwork, a mahogany “[Arm]Chair Frame for stuffing over back and Seat with marlborough feet” cost £2, only ten shillings less than an easy chair frame. The carving, moldings, brackets, and “bases” (the moldings around the feet) were all listed as additional charges, which could add as much as £1 to the price.^{1_{Weil, 183.}} With the upholstery, the cost of an armchair like this one can be roughly calculated at about £6, or almost double the cost of a carved armchair with a slip seat.

The original upholstery on this armchair and gilded tacks outlining the seat rails, arms, and back must have been intended to make a visual statement of its owner’s wealth. Contemporary English armchairs of this type that retain their original upholstery have showy coverings, such as tapestry, damask, or leather. Chairs with damask or leather frequently were further embellished with tufting.^{2_{Thomas Chippendale recommended that armchairs of this type be “covered with Spanish Leather, or Damask, & c. and nailed with Brass Nails” (Chippendale, 4). Manuscript designs for French chairs with tufted upholstery survive by William and John Linnell (Hayward and Kirkham, 2: no. 40) and an unknown English designer (Thornton 1987, 36). Mid-eighteenth-century English armchairs retaining their original tufted upholstery include a set upholstered in silk damask made for Corsham Court between 1765 and 1769 (Fowler and Cornforth, 156) and a pair by the Linnells with leather upholstery made for Osterley Park in 1767 (Hayward and Kirkham, 2: no. 69).}} One unusual feature of this chair frame is the high position of the bottom member of the back frame, which suggests that the seat may have been covered with a loose cushion.^{3_{A photograph of this chair frame without upholstery was reproduced in an advertisement for John S. Walton, New York, in Antiques 98, no. 4 (October 1970): 476. The pine strip at the bottom of the back frame was added by a later upholsterer to compensate for the high placement of the original bottom member.}}

Many features of this armchair indicate an origin in Philadelphia, where the most elaborate American versions of the form were made.^{4_{An extremely rare variation of this form included an opening between the back and seat and carving on the exposed portion of the stiles; a Philadelphia armchair of this type is at Winterthur (Hummel 1976, 60).}} The thick rails and absence of diagonal braces in the back and seat are characteristic of American rather than English chairmaking. The side rails of the seat frame are tenoned through the stiles, a construction feature found almost exclusively in Philadelphia. The foliage-carved arms and fret-carved front legs were originally fitted with casters. The arms, with their high-quality carving and the subtly twisted support moldings, are greatly superior to the carved legs, suggesting different craftsmen at work for a large shop.

David L. Barquist

Excerpted from Jonathan L. Fairbanks. Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State. New York: Rizzoli, 2003.