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Photo: Courtesy Newport Historical Society, R.I., inv. no. 2006.17
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Easy chair

Object number

RIF4066

Maker

Maker Unknown
(embroidery) Abigail Carey Ellery, American, 1742–1793
Alternate name(s): William Ellery

Dimensions

Height, back posts: 44 3/4 in. (113.67 cm) Height, crest: 47 1/8 in. (119.7 cm) Height, seat: 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm) Width: 33 in. (83.82 cm) Depth, seat: 21 1/2 in. (54.61 cm) Depth, wing: 13 3/4 in. (34.93 cm)

Date

1789–90

Current location

Newport Historical Society

Geography

Made in Newport, Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Mahogany (stretchers and front legs); maple (rear legs)

Marks

Unknown

Inscriptions

"This chair was made in Newport of / mahogany from the Ellery plantation / in Honduras for Almy Ellery, 1759–1839, / daughter of the Signer on her marriage to / Senator William Stedman. The embroi- / dery is hers on a third background. / 1972," embroidered on a fabric label, sewed to top of fabric covering seat

Provenance

William Ellery (1727–1820) and Abigail Carey Ellery (1742–1793), Newport, Rhode Island; given to their daughter, Mrs. William Stedman (née Almy Ellery, 1759–1839), Newport, Rhode Island; by descent in the family to Thomas Hale (1924–2012), Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts; given to the Newport Historical Society, Rhode Island, 2006

Associated names

William Ellery
Almy Ellery Stedman
Thomas Hale

Bibliography

Ruth S. Taylor, "Connected to the Past: Objects from the Collections of the Newport Historical Society," Antiques and Fine Art 8, issue 6 (Summer/Autumn 2008): 183, ill.
Patricia E. Kane et al., Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2016), 91n17, 92n46, 94n75, 251, 349, 352–355, no. 73.