Armchair

Status

Not on view

Label Text

Known in French as a bergère (literally meaning "shepherdess"), this eighteenth-century version of the lounge chair defined casual elegance. When paired with a stool, its high back, low seat, and upholstered arms provided a supportive space in which to comfortably recline. George Washington might have purchased this chair and a matching stool from the departing French minister, the Comte de Moustier, in 1790. It is one of several French chairs of different styles, all purportedly purchased by Washington for use in the executive mansions in New York and Philadelphia.

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Date1770-1785

Geography Probably made - France

Medium/TechniqueBeech (primary), paint, brass

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 35 1/8 in. x 25 1/2 in. x 22 3/8 in. (89.22 cm x 64.77 cm x 56.83 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. George R. Goldsborough, Vice Regent for Maryland, 1882

Object numberW-877

DescriptionWhite-painted and carved Louis XVI armchair or "bergère" with upholstered rectangular back, arms, and sides, and a trapezoidal seat on four turned, tapered, and fluted legs with spool-turned tops and cylindrical feet with castors; crest rail and stiles are molded with an outer quarter round and inner cove and fillet on their fronts, and a cove on their sides; straight arms and arm supports molded with two half-rounds at center flanked by grooves and rounded sides, with scrolled arm terminals on ogee or cyma-curved supports; serpentine-molded front and side seat rails with square blocks at stiles, those at front with inset two-tiered, twelve-petaled flowers or rosettes and those at back are faceted; back of crest rail, stay rail, and stiles left plain.

Upholstered with green and peach striped silk lampas with floral bouquets, garlands, and spot motifs in cream; cording and gimp in corresponding colors outline each upholstered section; trapezoidal seat squab; back is lined with a large-scale green and white check which is secured at the top of the back seat rail with a line of decorative brass tacks; seat is lined with a plain muslin.

Published ReferencesHelen Maggs Fede, Washington Furniture at Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, Virginia: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1966), 35-36.

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