Walnut Side Chair
With pierced splat, knee brackets, shapped crest rail and scrolled ears
Unknown Maker, Probably Alexandria, Virginia
Circa 1790
Dimensions: Height – 37 1/2” overall, 17 1/4” at seat rail, Width 22 ½” overall, Depth 17”
Commentary: Alexandria, Virginia was an early tobacco trading port located a few miles below the falls of the Potomac River. Like many other fall line towns, Alexandria was well situated geographically to serve as a social and commercial center for interior settlements and large land owners who did not have direct access to seaborne commerce. Developed largely by Scottish merchants, towns such as Alexandria offered a considerable range of imported goods along with the services of cabinetmakers, coach makers, silversmiths, gun smiths and the like. The most prominent among the cabinetmakers and chair makers working in Alexandria in the last decades of the 18th century were John Muir, Ephraim Evans, Joseph and Henry Ingles,
Few signed pieces by any of these or any other Alexandria cabinetmakers have survived but family histories and research have led to the attribution of a significant body of furniture to the city’s artisans. MESDA field researchers have identified a group of side and arm chairs that share stylistic and construction traits as well as histories of ownership and use in and around Alexandria, of which this side chair (MESDA S-14, 947) is one.
Chairs in this group are characterized mainly by the scrolled ears, straight upper crest rails with serpentine shaped undersides, and four pierced elongated splats. Upper rails and legs have molded edges. Pierced knee brackets appear on several and may have been lost on others. Construction detail vary – some have through tenons, H stretchers with and without rear stretchers, and shoe design and pegging vary. All share most of the stylistic or construction characteristics.
Condition: The chair survives in excellent condition with its original glue blocks and yellow pine slip seat (one corner broken). Three of brackets appear to be original while the fourth may be an old replacement. The surface is an old refinish.
