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Photo: Courtesy The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Va., 1954-379
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Couch

Object number

RIF4203

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

40 3/8 × 21 3/4 × 67 1/2 in. (102.55 × 55.25 × 171.45 cm)

Date

1700–1730

Current location

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Virginia

Geography

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

Medium

Maple

Marks

None

Inscriptions

None

Provenance

Private collection, Rhode Island; sold to David Stockwell, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware, by 1954; sold to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Virginia, 1954

Associated names

David Stockwell, Inc.

Construction

The crest, flat in the middle, arched and carved at the ends, is dovetailed and fixed with screws to the back of the beaded, raking stiles, topped with vasiform turnings. The rectilinear splat below consists of two upright stiles, tenoned and pinned to the crest and lower back rail, and faced with leather over canvas backing, and brass studs. The square rear legs are continuous with the stiles. The blocked and turned legs are joined by turned stretchers doweled into them ? ball and reel stretchers in the longitudinal direction, more simply turned stretchers in the transverse. The legs are doweled into the underside of the rails. Leather and canvas straps contain the canvas-bound filling of the leather-upholstered and brass-stud-decorated seat. Examined by J.N. Johnson, February 23, 2013; notes compiled by T.B. Lloyd

Bibliography

Barry A. Greenlaw, New England Furniture at Williamsburg (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Virginia, 1974), 100–101, no. 86, ill.