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Bow-back Windsor side chair

Bow-back Windsor side chair
Tulip poplar, oak, red maple, paint
1785-1815
Bow-back Windsor side chair
Bow-back Windsor side chair
Tulip poplar, oak, red maple, paint
1785-1815
Bow-back Windsor side chair Tulip poplar, oak, red maple, paint 1785-1815
Status
Not on view
Label Text

Like their contemporaries, George and Martha Washington used attractive, durable, and relatively inexpensive Windsor chairs in a variety of spaces. The household inventory taken after George Washington died records 30 placed outside on the Mansion's piazza, with another 10 in a first-floor parlor and 5 more in two upstairs bedrooms. This chair may be one of those owned by the Washingtons. It has lost its original finish, but the remaining evidence suggests it may have once been painted green, a standard option in that era.

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Date1785-1815
Geography Possibly made - United States
DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 36 3/4 in. x 18 5/8 in. x 17 3/8 in. (93.35 cm x 47.31 cm x 44.13 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Copeland T. Jones, 1950
Object numberW-1553
DescriptionBow-back Windsor side chair with nine bamboo-turned spindles, a shield-shaped saddled seat, and four raked bamboo-turned legs joined by bamboo-turned H-stretchers. Both edges of the back are beaded. An incised line isolates the spindle-area of the seat. The ends of the bowed back are tenoned through the seat and wedged. Six of the spindles, three on either side of the central spindle, are tenoned into the back rail and wedged. Each leg is tenoned into the seat and wedged. Remnants of a black finish are present on all surfaces of the chair, and remnants of an earlier finish of green paint are present on the underside of the proper left side stretcher and the back legs.

Small strips of off-white tape are affixed to the underside of the side stretchers.

Published References

Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.
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