Rhode Island Furniture Archive - Yale University Art Gallery

Photo: Courtesy Christie's, New York Click the image to enlarge	Upholstered armchair
	Object number RIF1342
	Maker Maker Unknown
	Dimensions 43 7/8 � 24 7/8 � 19 1/2 in. (111.443 � 63.183 � 49.53 cm)
	Date 1740–50
	Current location
	Geography Probably made in Boston, formerly said to have been made in Newport, Rhode Island (view a map of Rhode Island)
	Medium Mahogany (primary); cherry (seat rails)
	Marks None
	Inscriptions Markings, in graphite, on seat rails and outside crest rail indicating orientation of boards
	Provenance Possibly owned by Abraham Redwood (1709–1788), Antigua, West Indies, and Newport and Portsmouth, Rhode Island; by descent to his daughter, Mehetable Redwood Ellery (1784–1832), Newport, Rhode Island; by descent to Abraham Redwood III (1773–1860) and Sarah Charlotte Weissenfels (1784–1837), Antigua; possibly by descent through his wife's family to Mrs. Dexter Hunneman (n�e Alberta R. Merrill,1895–1982), Hamilton, Massachusetts; sold to Israel Sack, Inc., New York, 1980; sold to Joseph K. Ott (1929–1994), Providence, Rhode Island, 1980; by descent to his wife Anne Northrup Ott (1929–2015), Providence, Rhode Island; consigned to Christie's, New York, January 20, 2012, lot 138
	Associated names Mrs. Dexter Hunneman Israel Sack, Inc. Joseph K. Ott Abraham Redwood Mehetable Redwood Ellery Rosalie Redwood Anderson Ford Martha Maria Ellery Anderson Christie's
	Construction The arched crest rail has a flat back, chamfered front and inner edges and incurvate shoulders. It is attached to its two-part, serpentine stiles with incurvate, slightly chamfered inner edges, and serpentine, deeply chamfered outer edges, with mortise and tenon joints. Each scrolling arm is set into the stile and secured with a large wood pin. Each scrolling arm support is half-lapped to the seat frame below and secured with three large wood pins. A lower back brace is tenoned into the stiles, with one pin per side. The rear and side seat rails meet the rear legs, which are continuous with the inner portions of the stiles, in mortise and tenon joints, each joint having a single wood pin. The rear legs are square below the back rail, then round, then square again below the rear turned stretcher, then chamfered at the end. The rear stretcher is doweled into the legs; the side stretchers meet the rear legs in mortise and tenon joints having one pin each. The side stretchers meet the medial stretcher and the front legs in mortise and tenon joints without pins. The side seat rails attach to the front seat rail with mortise and tenon joints with two pins each. There is a dovetail joint atop each front leg where it joins the front rail. The cabriole legs are rounded, have knee brackets applied with rosehead nails, and end in smallish, ring-turned pad feet. Examined by P.E. Kane and J.N. Johnson, November 11, 2011; notes compiled by T.B. Lloyd
	See also RIF2694
	Bibliography Joseph K. Ott, "Abraham Redwood's Chairs?," Antiques 119, no. 3 (March 1981): 669–673, fig. 4, 5. Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (Winterthur, Del.: Winterthur Publications, 1997), 171–173, fig. 1. American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Highland House Publishers, 1957–89), vol. 7, p. 1724, no. P4836, ill. Christie's, New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph K. Ott, sale cat. (January 20, 2012), 20–23, lot 138, ill.