Object: Sack Back Windsor Chair
Dimensions: Height – at seat, 18” overall 38”
Width – at seat, 21 7/8” overall 25 ¾”
Depth – at seat 16 ¼”
Maker: Ephraim Evans (ca. 1748 – 1839)
Location: Alexandria, Virginia or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date: ca.1785 – ca.1795
Commentary: This chair is one of only three known Windsor chairs to have been branded”E:VANS” by their maker, Ephraim Evans. All three examples are of the sack back design. One marked chair is in Independence Hall and is part of the collection of Independence National Historical Park. The other was sold by a New York dealer in the 1980s and its present location is unknown. File photographs obtained from the dealer indicate that the brand and design of the chair sold and this chair are nearly identical. In her American Windsor Chairs, Nancy Goyne Evans noted that the two branded chairs (then known to her) were slightly different; the first having flat arms and conical turnings at the post bases while the second, which retained fragments of a label linking it to Philadelphia, had arm terminals detailed in a scroll knuckle and bulbous turnings at the post bases. She suggested that the second is the later of the two and “seems to represent a pattern produced both in Philadelphia and Alexandria.” The sack back form is thought to have arrived in Philadelphia from England in the mid 1760s and spread rapidly through the colonies until fading in popularity at the end of the eighteenth century. Although it is not possible to state with certainty that this chair was produced in Alexandria, it is clearly of the style Evans would have marketed here after his arrival from Philadelphia and its discovery nearby suggests a history in the area. The distinctive knuckle arm grips, bold turnings and virtually unique example of Evans’ makers’ brand make this a rare and highly desirable chair.
A pencil inscription on the underside of the seat records that: “This chair belonged to my great grandmother Mrs. Patrick T? [or] M? acy Jackson MP [monogram ?].” If this notation is read to be Mrs. Patrick Tracy Jackson, an early owner could have been the wife of Newburyport, MA. merchant, Patrick Tracy Jackson (1780-1847) who had extensive trading interests on the eastern seaboard and in the Far East. If read to be Mrs. Patrick Macy Jackson, ownership might be traced to a family of free African Americans living in the Prince Edward County area of Virginia during the 19th century.
Ephraim Evans probably served his apprenticeship (possibly under Francis Tumble (1716-1798) whose chair’s are very similar) and worked in Philadelphia until 1785 when he moved to Alexandria, Virginia. There he advertised in the Virginia Journal and Alexandria Advertiser, October 20, 1785, “Windsor Chairs of all sorts, made and sold by EPHRAIM EVANS, Late from Philadelphia, at his house at the upper end of Prince-street.” Evans’ Alexandria locations were also recorded on Royal and Duke Streets. Evans pursued his career in Alexandria until 1828 and trained numerous apprentices in chair making. An 1802 ad soliciting information on stolen chairs suggests the bold appearance that Evan’s chairs might have exhibited when first produced: “STOLEN from the shop of the subscriber some day this week, SIX ROUND BACK CHAIRS, painted yellow, tipp’d with black, the seats painted mahogany colour.” Among Evans’ customers were George Washington Parke Custis and Major Lewis of Kenmore. A receipt in the Kenmore Collection (copy attached) records: “Major Lewis Bot of E. Evans – 2 Doz Mahogany chairs – 46 [?] S Recd payment Ephraim Evans.” According to Evans obituary notice published January 25, 1839 in the Alexandria Gazette, he moved to Wheeling in 1828 and lived for the last eighteen months of his life in Columbus, Ohio. Evans noted the paper, was a native of Philadelphia “where he resided during the revolution and took part in the struggle for independence.”
Condition and Materials: The seat appears to be poplar with a variety of woods utilized in other components of the chair. The early painted surfaces had been removed but retained traces of early coats of red and black and dark green paint. An appropriate verdigris/dark green surface was restored by Peter Deen. The chair legs have been tipped, replacing old losses probably related to the addition of rockers at some point in the chair’s history. One arm post has an old break (without loss) and a three inch repair insert has had been added to the arched bow to repair an old break. Structural conservation was undertaken by the F. C. Vogt Company, Richmond, VA.
Price: Sold
Additional Photos
Detail of seat bottom
Ephraim Evans home today – Alexandria VA
