image of object
From: Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye, New England Furniture: The Colonial Era (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1984): 365
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Easy chair

Object number

RIF834

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

51 3/8 × 35 3/4 × 23 1/2 in. (130.493 × 90.805 × 59.69 cm) Seat height: 15 1/2 in. (39.37 cm)

Date

1755–70

Current location

Historic New England (www.historicnewengland.com), formerly Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities

Geography

Probably made in Massachusetts, or possibly made in Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Black walnut (front legs and stretchers); maple (rear legs and seat rails); white pine (arm cones); birch (all other secondary)

Style

Queen Anne

Provenance

Hyman Kaufman (died 1947), Boston; consigned to American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, Inc., New York, April 12–14, 1934, lot 147; sold to Mary Thacher; by descent to Guido R. Perera (1902–1999), Boston; given to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England), Boston,1971

Associated names

Hyman Kaufman
Mary Thacher
Guido R. Perera
Guido R. Perera

Construction

The rear legs and rear stiles are of one piece. The construction of the wings is like that of chair no. 101. The arm is screwed to the wing support. The chair is well worn, the frame chipped and riddled with tack holes. The medial stretchers has broken through the left stretcher mortise. The feet once had casters. The cone-shaped elements of the arm supports originally extended to the bottom of the seat rail. Source: Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye,New England Furniture: The Colonial Era (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984), 368.

Bibliography

American Art Association and Anderson Galleries, New York, American Furniture: Property of Hyman Kaufman, Boston, Mass., Part I, sale cat. (April 12–14, 1934), 26, lot 147, ill.
Brock Jobe and Myrna Kaye, New England Furniture: The Colonial Era (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984), 365–368, no. 102, ill.