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Roundabout chair

Object number

RIF1066

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

Height: 31 3/4 in. (80.645 cm) Width: 29 in. (73.66 cm)

Date

1740–60

Current location

Unknown

Geography

Made in Massachusetts, formerly said to have been made in Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Mahogany (primary)

Provenance

Israel Sack, Inc., New York, 1939; sold to Charles K. Davis, Fairfield, Connecticut, by 1941; sold by his estate to Israel Sack, Inc., New York, by 1974. Private collection, Pennsylvania; consigned to Sotheby's, New York, January 28–29 and 31, 1987, lot 1351

Associated names

Israel Sack, Inc.
Charles K. Davis
Sotheby's

Notes

Although chairs of this type have been attributed to Rhode Island in the past, they were probably made in Massachusetts. The arm supports with cone-shaped ends and the stretchers with elongated ogee shapes at the junction with the legs are like those on a corner chair at Winterthur with a well documented history in Massachusetts (RIF2695). The arms also lack the distinctive pointed peeks behind the hand holds that are a feature of Rhode Island chairs of this type (RIF2859).

Bibliography

Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, N.J.: MMI Americana Press, 1984), 259, fig. 6.6.
"Israel Sack, Inc., advertisement," Antiques 110, no. 3 (September 1976): inside cover, ill.
"Antiques in Domestic Settings: The Home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles K. Davis," Antiques 39, no. 3 (March 1941): 126–127, fig. 20.
Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana, sale cat. (January 28–29, 31, 1987), lot 1351, ill.
Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture: Early American (New York: Crown Publishers, 1950), 75, ill.
American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Highland House Publishers, 1957–89), vol. 5, p. 131, no. P4344, ill.