Rhode Island Furniture Archive - Yale University Art Gallery

Photo: Courtesy Christie's New York Click the image to enlarge	Fan-back Windsor side chair
	Object number RIF4482
	Maker Maker Unknown
	Dimensions Height: 40 in. (101.6 cm)
	Date 1785–1800
	Current location Unknown
	Geography Probably made in Newport, Rhode Island (view a map of Rhode Island)
	Medium Maple (legs); oak (crest rail); yellow poplar (seat)
	Marks None
	Inscriptions None
	Style Windsor, Windsor
	Provenance By descent in the families of Christopher Robinson, South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and Robert Lawton, Newport, Rhode Island; sold to Joseph K. Ott (1929–1994), Providence, Rhode Island, before November 1969; by descent to his wife Anne Ott, Providence, Rhode Island; consigned to Christie's, New York, January 20, 2012, lot 172. Northeast Auctions, Hampton and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, March 9–10, 2013, lot 82
	Associated names Descendants of Christopher Robinson of South Kingston Descendants of Robert Lawton of Newport Joseph K. Ott Anne Northrop Ott Christie's Northeast Auctions
	Construction The serpentine crest rail has decidedly pointed ears and is connected to the turned stiles and to every other spindle below by wood pins. The stiles and spindles are doweled into the deeply carved, incised seat. The turned, splayed legs are doweled through the seat. The chair bears traces of red and brown below later green paint. Examined by P.E. Kane and W.S. Braznell, March 9, 2013; notes compiled by T.B. Lloyd.
	Notes This Windsor chair was found with RIF 898 at Lawtondale Farm, Thornton, R.I.
	Bibliography Joseph K. Ott, "Still More Notes on Rhode Island Cabinetmakers and Allied Craftsmen," Rhode Island History 28, no. 4 (November 1969): 120, fig. 1. Robert Bishop, Centuries and Styles of the American Chair, 1640–1970 (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1972), 196, fig. 268. Joseph K. Ott, "Exports of Furniture, Chaises, and Other Wooden Forms from Providence and Newport, 1783–1795," Antiques 107, no. 1 (January 1975): 137. Nancy Goyne Evans, American Windsor Chairs (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996), 253–254. Christie's, New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph K. Ott, sale cat. (January 20, 2012), 93, lot 172. Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, N.H., Important Weekend Auction, sale cat. (March 9–10, 2013), 29, lot 82.