Assembled Pair of Mahogany Side Chairs
Hollow Cornered Crest Rail, Feather Carvings and Swelled Front
Unknown Maker, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Dimensions: Height – 36 ¾” overall, 16 ½” at seat rail, Width 21 ½” overall, Depth 19”
Date: Ca.1805 – 1815
Commentary: Southern Furniture, 1680-1830 catalogues a Fredericksburg side chair with an identical back design and carvings but with turned legs (No. 43) and a related chair (fig. 43.1) with tapered legs similar to those found on this example. Although strikingly similar in many respects, a side-by-side comparison between this chair and the two chairs in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg makes clear that the chairs were not from the same set. This chair is more robustly conceived and constructed, and its carving is much deeper and more fully developed; suggesting that it may have been an earlier rendition. The close parallels in design, ornament, construction and proportions, are conclusive evidence that the chairs were made by different craftsmen working from the same model or template and, quite possibly, in the same Fredericksburg shop. As noted by Hurst and Prown, the “ornamentation and execution [of these chairs] illustrates the way in which post-Revolutionary Fredericksburg cabinetmakers borrowed and reinterpreted American and British designs to create a local neoclassical style.”
Condition: The chair survives in very good condition with an old mellow surface. The proper left corner portion of the crest rail is an old replacement and there is some loss at the stile where the rail was reattached. The seat rail blockings and upholstery are replaced. The legs of the second chair have been tipped.
Price: Sold
Additional Photos
Fredericksburg Federal Chair without upholstery
Detail of Fredericksburg chair
